Rigentum
by The Midget Warrior
Summary: Finn is devastated about PB rejecting him yet again. So Jake goes out of his way to cheer him up and they accidentaly discover three humans in cryogenic sleep, a marine and his two children. And with their awakening, strange things begin to happen to Finn. Well, stranger than usual. Based off Incendium. My first fanfic. Not the best summary because I cant put this in a nutshel.
1. Frozen & Thawed

**(This story starts off from the AT episode Incendium, which kind of explains the title. Incendium is Latin for burning and Rigentum is Latin for freezing. All rights to the show are given to Pendleton Ward. This is my first fanfic, I'm starting with this random idea. I really hope you like it, so enjoy.) **

**Prologue **

_**July 7, 2015**_

A grade A, H1 Hummer is raced along a mountain road. The large vehicle continued for several miles, and then stopped in a small clearing. The first to exit the Hummer was marine captain, Michal Bates. He stood six feet three inches, with short wavy black hair on his head, and a body that looked like it was at the gym every other day. Michal wore denim jeans, combat boots and a light camouflage jacket and when unbuttoned it revealed a holster holding his Glock. The next to get out was sixteen year old Eli Bates. He had on a plaid t-shirt, faded jeans, and converses. Then there was fourteen year old Anna. She wore a colorful shirt that said 'it ain't a party till I show up', khaki shorts and tennis shoes. Anna was about as tall as Eli's forearm, so it's safe to call her four foot five. Her soft, shoulder length blonde hair danced in the wind. Each one of them carried a bag containing necessities, and personal belongings. "Over here, quick." Michal said as he moved some brush revealing a large metal door with a handle.

"Mind telling us why you brought us out to the middle of nowhere." Said Anna with her arms crossed over her chest, and as if on cue, immense flashes of light erupted where all three had been not two hours ago. The city known as San Francisco was now under several mushroom clouds. "There's your answer, now get in the hole". The two teenagers followed his command without hesitation and with haste. Captain Michal followed close behind them, closing the metal door and mumbling to himself "God I hate it when I'm right."

* * *

The captain led his children down a long corridor. The first to break the silence was Eli, "Okay, what the hell just happened out there Dad." "I'll explain later, but right now I need you two to trust me." Eli and Anna looked at each other with horrified expressions, because they both knew from his many stories that when he said "trust me", he had something crazy in mind. They all kept on until the three reached a vault with a turn valve handle. Michal opened the large vault door, revealing a circular room with computer consoles surrounding a round platform with six circles inside it, each about three feet in diameter. A voice that came out of nowhere said, "Good afternoon Captain Bates." "No time for small talk, activate the cryogenic tubes and give me a current aerial image of every major city you can get." Three pillars arose from half of the six smaller circles. Then multiple images popped on to the screen closest to the captain. He leaned over to look and said "Holy crap". Eli and Anna responded with a concerned "What?" "It wasn't just San Francisco that got hit. New York, D.C., London, Moscow, Tokyo, basically every place that's on a map, isn't any more."

The voice said "The cryogenic tubes are ready captain." As the pillars started to open and hiss, Michal forced his children into the pillars, and stepped into his own. He saw the terrified expressions on both of their faces. "Hey," he said with the most comforting voice he could labor. "The only thing I can promise you two is, when we wake up… everything is gonna' be just fine."

The doors to the three pillars closed simultaneously. Each person reacted differently to the new surroundings. Michal crossed his arms and leaned back against the cold metal surface. Eli rested his head against the wall and sighed. Anna looked around desperately for an escape hatch or something like that.

A chloroform like gas flooded the tubes. All three quickly fell asleep, and then the freezing agent was introduced. They were all cryogenically frozen in an instant. The three pillars sank back into the floor as hell unfolded outside.

**Chapter 1 Frozen & Thawed**

_**One Thousand Years later**_

"It's letting up. Hey Finn, let's go do somethin'" Jake the Dog said to his little brother, as the rain storm faded away to nothing. But Finn's only response was a sigh of gloom. Finn had been trying to win over the heart of the smart and beautiful, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum for as long as anyone can remember. So Finn, trying hundreds of times also meant getting rejected hundreds of times. However, this time when she said no, it sent him into a full state of depression. He lay in the middle of the floor, wearing his white bear hat, blue shirt and shorts, and his light green pack, surrounded by pictures of her, holding a lock of her gooey hair. Jake told Beemo, their talking game console, to put on a game to cheer Finn up. Finn looked at the video game on the screen and started to sing…

"_I can't keep pushing this down any deeper"_

_"Why do I keep trying if I can't keep her"_

_"Every move I make is another mistake, I wonder what it would take"_

_"Because it feels like there's a hole inside my body"_

_"Like there's a hole inside my heart"_

_"It's like feeling is gonna consume me, if I keep waiting for this thing to start"_

_"Oh I feel like I'm all gummed up inside"_

_"It's like I'm all gummed up inside"_

When he finished singing, Finn just laid there. The only thing that his song really did was put a disturbed expression on Jake's and Beemo's faces. It was almost pathetic. Finn the Human, who proudly bares the titles "Hero of Ooo, Slayer of Evil, and last of his kind." Brought down by a woman who couldn't even slap very hard. Jake broke the awkward silence between the three when he sighed and said. "Look, I know things might seem a little messed up, but I can tell that you'll feel a lot better if we go do something." No response came from his younger brother, this made Jake a little pissed. "Finn, if you don't come with me I'll just have to tell PB how wacked up you are!" Finn shot a look to Jake that would have stopped a stampede on a dime. He gave it a few seconds of thought and realized that he couldn't stop Jake even if he wanted to. That and he would rather die, than let the girl of his dreams see him as anything other than a hero. "Fine I'll go, if only to shut you up." He said with a sign of irritation in his voice. Finn put the pictures of the princess away, put the lock of her hair in his pack and grabbed his demon blood sword. Finn and Jake walked out of their tree house, though a grassy field and to the edge of a forest. "Alright I give, where are we going exactly?" said Finn. Jake answered with usual bombastic personality saying "Where ever the wind takes us homie." "You ha…" Finn was cut off by a familiar voice "Well well well, if it isn't my two least favorite people in Ooo." Finn and Jake turned around to see the obnoxious grass ogre Donny, with a chicken under his arm.

"I was going to screw with those house people, but you two are way more fun, so I'm gunna stick with you guys." "Donny, I'm not in the mood so if you could just piss off" Finn said irritably. "Oh, what did Finny get his feewings hurt." Donny was using baby talk just to make Finn madder. "I bet it was a girl way out of your league, who ripped out your heart and made you look like a totally wuss." Not knowing how right he was, Finn completely snapped. He unsheathed his sword and hurled it at Donny. The sword planted itself in the tree Donny was leaning on, not an inch from his head.

Everything went silent in an instant, except for the sound of Donny screaming his ass off and running for his life. Finn freed his sword from the tree and headed deeper into the forest, as angry as a bull. Jake was still standing in shock and awe, when he came back to reality he was all alone. Jake grew to the size of a house and screamed Finn's name. He looked around frantically for his buddy, and then he caught Finn's scent. He was walking up a large hill when Jake caught up with him. "Finn, what the heck just happened back there?" "I'm not gunna talk about it, not with you anyway. Because if you haven't noticed Jake, your ideas aren't exactly the best" Finn said raising his voice in anger. "How's a little walk in the woods help me, huh answer me that!" The volume in Finns voice continuing to rise.

"Ya' know what Finn I've been meaning to say this for a while now. You need to move on dude, there are plenty of fish in the sea." "You know I'm scared of the ocean." Finn replied while walking past Jake. Probably going back home to wallow in more self pity.

"Finn, you're a fourteen year old adventurer, and she's a nineteen year old princess. You need to face the facts bro, it's never gunna' happen!" Finn stopped dead after hearing those words, he picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at Jake, and screamed "Shut up!"

Jake dodged the rock and saw that Finn had the same expression he had shown Donny a few minutes ago. Jake stated to run uphill, terrified at the thought of what Finn might do if he got a hold of him. He ran as fast as he could with Finn close behind him. Jake stepped on something made of completely rusted metal, fell through it, and landed face first on a metal floor. He lifted his head and saw a long hallway, then immediately began to run down it when he heard Finn coming. Jake kept running on and on until he couldn't see anything but black, and kept on. He only stopped when he hit a door with a valve-type handle. Jake opened it and stepped in quickly at the sound footsteps in the distance. He stood in a circular room with dim lighting and screens that broken and flickering due to low power. Just as he was about to close the door, Finn's sword closed the gap between the door and the wall. Jake screamed and ran to the other side of the circular room. Finn pushed the door aside and walked toward Jake. A voice that neither Finn nor Jake had ever heard said, "Hello." As Finn looked straight in Jakes eyes with pure rage, he said "What was that you said again." "I said Hello" the same voice repeated, but this time Finn and Jake heard it. "Hi" Finn replied. "May I ask favor from you two?" the voice stated "Sure I can kick his ass later, now what's this favor." "I need you two to lift the three of the cryogenic tubes in the middle of the floor." "Depends on what's in the 'crologenic' tubes." Finn replied. "That would be Captain Michael Bates and his two children. I was supposed to unfreeze them when all trace amounts of radiation were gone. However something happened to the hydraulic lifts. They are broken, so that I am unable to raise them." "That leaves more questions than answers dude." Finn replied.

"Just lift the three circles on your left. The captain will be very mad at me." The voice went silent and Finn motioned Jake to do as the voice had instructed. He used his magic powers to stretch his hands and raised the first tube, then the second and the third. When all three were up, heat and a buzzing sound came from them. After several minutes the buzzing stopped and doors opened. Clouds of vapor gushed out and filled the room. Three solid masses fell out of the open tubes, followed by simultaneous thuds. Finn stepped carefully toward them. He took one look at the things on the floor, and his eyes grew. "Jake, th-they're human!"

_**(Finally! It has taken me over two months to write this one chapter. Not that this is hard to write. I've got some pretty good ideas, I just get distracted easily. The second I get this published, I will start on the second chapter. R&R)**_


	2. Friends or Enemies

**(Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but my school district is having exams soon and my mom is making me take practice SOL tests for Algebra and Earth Science. So I haven't exactly had time to work on my story. It doesn't just suck, it sucks ass! *sigh* Anyway here the second chapter.)**

**Chapter 2 Friends or Enemies**

"What, no way they're human. Check to see if they got fish heads." Jake said in denial. Finn glanced at faces of the humans lying unconscious on the floor. "They're as human as me Jake." He said with relief. "Maybe we should take them to a hospital, make sure they're alright." Finn said. Jake nodded in agreement and stretched out his back into a large bed. Finn lifted the smallest of the three first. He could tell that it was a girl, but he couldn't make out anything else because of the dim light. The second human was a young man a few years older than Finn and much heavier. Jake had to help Finn with the last one, he was about as heavy as the horse that turned out to bee the Ice was much older than the first human. Finn noticed their bags and grabbed them as well. Once everyone was on Jakes back, he staggered though and out of the long dark hallway.

The sun had already set, the crescent moon peaking over the horizon. They traveled in utter silence until Jake spoke up. "Hey Finn I think the nearest hospital is in the candy kingdom and tha… Finn, are you even listening to me." When no response came from Finn he spun his head around like an owl. Only to see Finn staring at the humans with glazed eyes. "Finn, don't you get all soul-searchy on me!" Jake barked. Finn snapped out of his trance and said "How long till were at the candy kingdom?" "About five minutes, and just try to act normal will 'Ya." Jake replied.

When they arrived at the kingdom they went straight to the medical ward. Doctor Ice Cream found them outside in the middle of his break, but was happy to examine the three humans. He instructed several candy guards to take the humans and to show Finn and Jake to a waiting room. Jake sat and relaxed on the waiting room couch, Finn was a nervous wreck. He paced himself across the room, head down and arms crossed. A few minutes later the good doctor came out and said "They're as healthy as can be, and should be awake within the hour. So both of you are free to see them, if you'd like." "Thanks Doc, you coming Jake." Finn said "Nah, I think I'm gunna go home. I'll see you when you get home dude." Jake stated as he stretched himself out the door. Finn ran to the door and yelled after him "I'm still gunna kick your ass Jake!" he left the door way and headed to the room with the three humans were.

He was so excited that he would finally meet humans that weren't mutated freaks. Finn stepped into a room with four beds in it three of them occupied. In the first bed lied the young man, he had shaggy black hair. His skin was lightly tanned and a little stubble on his chin. He looked a few years older than him. Finn looked at the second bed and saw the girl. Her shoulder length blonde hair was shining in the light, her face sent a feeling through his entire body. A feeling similar to the one he gets when he's around the princess, but with more of a calming sense to it. So he couldn't help but stare at her, blushing slightly. Time passed and he snapped himself out of his own trance, and walked over to the last occupied bed. The large man breathed slowly, his black hair was shorter than the other human. Finn saw a small rounded metal plate, attached to a beaded chain, he leaned closer to try and read what it said. But before he could read it, something grabbed him by the back of his shirt and threw him to the other side of the room. Finn went to draw his sword, and heard a click. He looked up to see the larger man holding what looked like a silver stick and it was pointed at Finn. "What's that?" Finn asked "Sounds like you've never seen a gun before." The man said. Finn's eyes got wide, he had heard stories of the ancient weapon. How it could kill a person with just a twitch of a finger. The two stared down for what seemed like hours, but was less than a minute. "My name's Michal, what's yours?" he asked. Finn gave no response. "Okay, tell me something that might keep me from shooting you were you stand." Finn stood up and said "Before me and my brother found you three in that weird cave, I was the only known human." Michal's jaw dropped. "Well that's not depressing at all." He said sarcastically.

A bright pink face appeared in the door. Princess Bubblegum came in with no permission, mainly because it was her castle. "I wouldn't come any closer PB." Finn said looking straight at her. Michal turned his head around to see who he was talking to. Finn saw the opportunity to strike and took it. He almost glided toward the gun in Michal's hands, grabbed it and hurled it through the open door. Setting off the pistle as it hit the wall.

Like a starting gun had just gone off, which it did. Michal lunged forward, tackling Finn into the wall. He gripped his left hand over Finns neck. His right hand had formed into a fist and drew back. Just as Michal was about punch Finns head through the wall. "Dad!" Both Finn and Michal glanced over to the blonde girl with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression on her face. "You can't stop being Captain Commando for one day in your life, can you?" she said. "Anna, do you really think this is the best time to talk about that, and it's Captain Rambo to you." Michal replied, smiling at the last part of his response. She said nothing, the only thing she did was tighten the annoyed look on her face. Sending a somewhat psychic message to her father. "Fine." Michal released Finn's neck from his grip, he fell to the floor gasping for breath. "I wasn't trying to attack you. I was trying to look at those things around your neck." Finn said. "My dog tags?" Michal asked.

"If I may speak," Princess Bubblegum said abruptly "I would very much like to know who you are." Michal and Anna stared in astonishment at the bright pink woman who had just spoke. Michal released himself from his own trance, breathed in and said "Umm, my name is Michal Bates, this is my daughter Anna," he motioned his hand to her and then toward Eli "and this is my son Eli." Who was still out cold. "And might I ask who you are?" Michal asked. "I am Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom, and the person you just tried to kill is my dear friend Finn the human." "Yeah, sorry about that Finn, was it, but when you're the most renowned Marine Captain in the business, you tend to rely on instinct and my instinct is killer." Michal said. "What the flip Marine?" Finn questioned. "As an old friend of mine put it, a marine is a cross between a gladiator, and a highly trained assassin." "Cool" was Finns only response.

The princess spoke up yet again "Well, I'm sure you all would like something to eat" "Yeah I could eat." Finn said with gusto. Michal looked over at Anna with raised eyebrows. "Okay, but what about Eli." Anna said. "I'm pretty sure if there's any kind of meat, he won't be far behind." Michal replied. Princess Bubblegum guided them all to the dining hall. There was a large pink table with similar chairs that had five plates had been set for them. The princess sat at the end of the table, Finn took the seat next to her on the right side of the table. Michal and Anna sat on the opposite side of Finn.

When everyone was seated Princess Bubblegum whistled rather loudly to let her staff know she and her guests were ready for their meal. Seconds later, a doughy figure walked through the doors carrying a large bowl of spaghetti. He placed the bowl on the table "Here you go princess." The living pastry said. "Thank you Cinnamon Bun, you may go." As the living pastry walked away, dumbfounded expressions fell on the faces of Michal and Anna. Both of them were speechless. They could handle the pink woman, but what they just saw blew their minds. "Wh… was that a talking honey bun!" Michal said in confusion. "Cinnamon Bun." The princess corrected. "On second thought," the Captain stood up from his chair. "I'm gunna see if I can wake up Eli." He retraced his steps back to the part of building he had awoken in. As Michal was walking down the bright and colorful hallway, he passed a small man. Only it wasn't man at all, he was about two feet tall wore a tuxedo fit for someone of his stature, and was completely made out of what looked like peppermint. "Good day to you sir." The candy man said politely. "Uh huh." was Michal's only response. Then he began to think to himself. _Maybe I'm hallucinating from that gas from tubes. Those things were only prototypes, but if we've been frozen long enough for the world to turn into something like this, is just crazy_. When Michal arrived at the door to the room he noticed his gun was lying on the floor. He picked it up from the ground, inspected it and placed the gun back in his holster. Just as Michal was about to enter the room there was a loud crash, followed by two screams. He instinctively started to run toward the chaos. When he arrived back to the dining room, he sees a great hole in the wall, Finn trapped in a block of ice, and the princess trying very hard to free him using Finns sword. He was surprised but not immobilized. Michal took the sword from her hands, dealt one clean blow to the ice, and feed Finn from his ice prison. Instead of thanking Michal, Finn reclaimed his sword and jumped through the opening in the wall. A baffled look came to Michal's face, he took a quick look around the room. He turned to Princess Bubblegum, "Where's Anna?" he said in a stern voice. "He… he kidnapped her." She said sounding a little confused. "Who?" Michal said. "It just doesn't make any sense, I mean he only…" "Who took my daughter!" the Captain said in an agitated voice. "The Ice King, Finn just ran after him, if you go now you might be able to catch up to him." She stated.

Michal wasted no time running after Finn. By the time he had started, he just barely saw Finn heading off in the distance. He was fast for a kid, but Michal was a little faster. By the time he had caught up with Finn, a thin layer frost and snow replaced the grass. "So, are you gunna' tell me about the poor bastard who took my Anna." Michal said as he panted slightly. "The Ice King, he always kidnapping princesses and tries to force them into marriage. But me and Jake always stop 'em." Finn responded. "Ok at least tell me you have a plan." Michal said. "Oh yea, I've got an idea.

* * *

"If you know what's good for you, you'll let me go right now!" Anna yelled. The Ice King had put Anna in the same cage that he puts his kidnapped princesses in and she was not happy about it. "Pft, what are you going to do. You're just a little girl I grabbed by mistake." A pale blue man emerged from the shadows. He wore a dark blue robe with a golden crown embedded with three red rubies. A long white beard covered his face, along with a long pointed nose and I mean a really long pointed nose. "It's not what I'm gunna' do, it's what my dad's going to do." Anna said truthfully. "Well I don't see your daddy here." "Then why don't you turn around." The Ice King twisted his head around to see Michal standing in the triangular window, his face full of anger. "Oh you must be her father, allow me to explain myself. When I grabbed your daughter, I meant to take the person next to her." The expression on Michal's face didn't change, he just stared at the old king. "Ok maybe I could…" he quickly pointed his right arm at Michal, and said "Zap!". It did nothing and the King pulled the limb back looking very confused. "Missing something." The Ice king turned around again to see Finn sitting in his recliner made completely of ice, holding his magic crown. "How did?... but I…, what happened?!" the Ice King said in an annoyed voice.

"I snatched your magic crown when you were yapping" Finn said. The Ice King glanced back to the Captain, who was walking toward him. "Umm, I think I'll show myself out then." The Ice King said. He was stopped when Michal grabbed the back of his robe and threw him down on to the ice floor, hard. "Finn, take Anna and get outta here. I don't want her to see what I'm about to do."

Finn nodded, walked over to the cage that held Anna, broke the lock and guided Anna out of the Ice King's castle. Before they left, Anna turned around and said "Just don't kill him, Dad." Michal didn't take his eyes off of the Ice King, who was trembling at his feet."Oh he'll be fine, trust me." A devilish grin appeared on Michal's face. Anna realized how screwed the old man was, and walked a little bit faster. As both Finn and Anna hiked down the one of the frozen mountains that made most of the Ice Kingdom, passing the occasional penguin. Anna crossed her arms and started shaking. "God! its cold out here." She said with a chatter of teeth. Finn reached around to his green pack, pulled out his yellow sweater and gave it to her. "Aren't you cold?" she said as she took the sweater. "A little, but then again it's not a long walk back to the Candy Kingdom." Finn said. All communication had stopped after that point, and both teens continued to march onward.

Finn and Anna had been walking through snow for what seemed like hours. Anna broke the silence and asked "So what happened to this place?" Finn looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Well, before me, my brother, and my dad were frozen, we lived in a city that was close to a mountain range but they weren't that big, or had snow on them. In fact it never even snowed in San Francisco." Finn gave it a minute of thought and finally said "Well, you and your family were obviously frozen before the Mushroom War, and that's just about all I can tell you. Because anyone who lived during the war, only had one thing in mind… survival. The generation that came after the war, weren't told the gruesome tales. They were only told the horrifying image that scared the inside of their eyelids. Gigantic mushrooms, hence the name Mushroom War." Grass had finally replaced snow, neither had noticed and continued walking.

"Legend says that the war was so gruesome that no one wanted to put it down in the history books." Finn continued ranting on about all the myths and legends of the Mushroom War. Again neither of them noticed the scene change, this time both had wandered into a dark forest. "And that's just about all I know." Finn said as his rant ended. Anna said nothing. She just walked beside Finn with a traumatized face. Things fell silent yet again. "Now it's my turn to ask you someth…" Finn was cut off when he felt a cold wind blown through his body. The wind came so suddenly it caused him to step back. "Wow, did you feel that." Finn said.

"Feel what?" Anna replied. "It felt like a ghost just went through me. I've got Goosebumps and everything." Finn then realized where they were, and was surprised that they hadn't been attacked by a monster or something by now. He picked Anna up and started running as fast as he could. He only stopped when he reached the boarder of the Candy Kingdom.

Finn set Anna down. She was confused and angry yet again. "Why did you do that?" Anna asked. "They don't call it the forest of fear for nothing." Finn quickly retorted. "Now let's get back to the princess, she's a nervous wreck when it comes to situations like this." Anna nodded and picked up her pace to match Finn's. When Finn and Anna finally reached the safety of the Candy Kingdom's wall, they were greeted by several of the candy people. Finn waved at them, Anna just stared blankly. It took only two minutes from that moment to return to the dining room from where they had left earlier that evening. When Finn took one step through the door, Princess Bubblegum's voice boomed out. "Finn, Anna! Are you alright? Where's your father? How…" she caught herself and the bombardment of questions she was giving. "Anna, I believe there is someone who'd like to talk to you." She gestured over to her left. All three looked over to see Eli shaking his head in astonishment. "Anna." He once he saw his sister. "What the hell did I miss?" A smile came to Anna's face. "All of us get into those cryogenic tubes, we're frozen for God know how long, and when we finally get unfrozen…" Eli carries on his babbling, while Anna is trying her hardest not to laugh. "…I wake up in candy land, while you and Dad are anywhere but here!" Anna couldn't hold the laughter in any longer. Eli's gave Anna a very annoyed look. "What's so funny?" A deaf person could have heard the irritation in Eli's voice. "It's just so easy to laugh at you when you get mad." The princess and Finn couldn't help but smile at the siblings. Once the laughter died down, Anna filled Eli in on 'what the hell he'd missed.' The whole process took about twenty minutes.

"Wow, that's heavy." Eli said. Yet another moment of awkward silence occurred in the dining room. The sounds of boots hitting the candy floor disrupted the stillness. Michal appeared in the door frame. "Morning sunshine." He said to his son, whose face reddened in annoyance. "Putting all the craziness aside, you have some serious explaining to do." Eli said pointing his finger at his father. "Umm, maybe we should sit down for this." Everyone agreed with him and sat around what used to be a table. "You two remember your grandma right." His children nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, one thing I've never told you about her is that before any manmade disaster occurs, parts of her body start shaking uncontrollably. Pearl Harbor, Three Mile Island, The Challenger, 9/11, even the Virginia Tech shooting. A day before any disaster she'd start shaking. The day we were put on ice, I got a call from a doctor in Houston. Where she lived and he told me that she had died of a seizure. And knowing what had really happened to her, I feared the worst to what was about to happen. So I called you two, told you to pack everything you would need leave by the time I arrived. Two hours later, boom, the nuclear bombs fell." "What's a nuclear bomb?" the princess asked.

Michal sighed and said "A nuclear bomb was the worst thing that was created by man. It was a weapon of mass destruction, something that was used only as a last resort. Hell, those things were so powerful when it goes off and you're at ground zero, you would move before your shadow did. If you weren't vaporized first. But that's not all it could do, it made a mushroom cloud that could be almost a mile high." The last sentence sent looks of horror into the eyes of Finn and Princess Bubblegum. "Di, did you say mile high mushroom." Finn stuttered out. Michal nodded. "My guess is that a nuclear winter followed the last bomb, radiation levels increased, slowly turning the survivors into mutated freaks and monsters." Michal placed a hand over his face, showing his exhaustion. "Well I can see it's been a very long day for you all, and as my guests I offer you three a place to stay for a while," said the princess. "No offense to you or your castle, but I'd rather not sleep in someplace like this." Michal said. Eli seconded his dad's comment.

"You two could stay at the tree fort, me and Jake have plenty of room." Finn said. Father and son looked at each other then back to Finn. "Sure." They said at exactly the same time. "Well I for one would be happy to sleep in a castle, even if it is made of candy." Anna said hands on hips. Princess Bubblegum smiled at Anna. "I'll show you to your room then and you boys may use the Marrow to get home."

"That is one big bird." Michal said as he glared at the brown eagle the size of a rhinoceros. Finn standing behind its head. "Are you getting on, or are you just gonna' stand there."

The captain and his son climbed onto the back of the Marrow and it took off. Racing through the night sky, like an F-16 fighter jet. The bird started to slow down as it reached a grassy plain and began to descend toward a large tree in the middle of the plain. When the Marrow landed it hit the ground with a light thump. Finn and Michal jumped off of the giant bird; Eli was as pale as a ghost when he came off. Finn sent the Marrow home and led the two inside the tree house, which has been Finn's home ever since he was six. It entire house was actually well designed, wide open spaces, treasure scattered throughout the floor. "Okay, we only have one spare bed, so one of you will have to take the couch." Finn turned around to see Michal and Eli shaking their fists, on the forth shake. Michal's fist remained the same, while Eli's switched into a flattened shape. "I get the bed." Eli said happily. Finn was baffled but he didn't want to know, mainly because he was too tired. He told Eli were the spare bedroom was, Michal laid down on couch, and Finn headed up to his bedroom. He didn't bother getting into his sleeping clothes. The second Finn's head hit the pillow, he was sound asleep.

Finn awoke to the sound of something downstairs. He glanced over to the window. The sun was peeking over the mountains of the Ice Kingdom. Finn inched himself out of bed and climbed downstairs to find no one in the home. He motioned over to the fridge, opened the door and the only thing inside was a note.

_Finn_

_If you want breakfast, you'll have to find me out in the woods_

_Jake_

"Okay, he's really gonna do this." Finn said to himself. He grabbed his sword and headed for the woods just outside the plain. When Finn came to the edge of the woods, there was a trail and another note

_Finn _

_Follow the trail, and you will find me and your food._

_Jake_

"Oh ya, this is definitely a trap." He said unsheathing his weapon and keeping onward. Sword drawn, Finn entered a clearing in the woods. "Perfect place for an ambush!" Finn yelled. Telling his attacker he was ready for a fight. Several seconds passed and the same cold wind that Finn felt last night. But this time the wind had a solid mass to it and it was fast. The wind pushed Finn back over ten feet, and formed into a bipedal creature. With thick arms that had thin but long claws and hind canine legs, but those were the only details that were visible, because of its cloud structure. The cloud figure lunged forward to Finn, arms outstretched. Finn's sword intercepted the beast, turning it back to an undefined cloud and scattered. "What are you?!" Finn screamed to nothing. The wind returned from behind and whispered in a deep voice "I am the thing, which will lay waste to everything that you hold dear." These words sent chills down Finn's spine. The cloud then reformed into beast form behind Finn and slashed at his back. He barrel rolled to the side, claws missing him by a hair. The beast came again and put a gash in Finn's right leg. He cursed and fell to his knees. Only to look up when the beast stood above him. It drew back its hand, claws fully extended. As the beasts hand began to move in what seemed like slow motion. Finn shut his eyes, awaiting the horrible pain that would follow the beast's hand. Instead of pain there was nothing, nothing but a yellow light. Finn opened his eyes and saw that the beast, well as everything else was gone, only an endless yellow aurora remained. "Where am I?" Finn said, the sound of his words echoing. A calm, male voice said "You are in the deepest realm of the astral plain, the place where all minds intersect." It echoing as well. "Why am I here?" Finn asked. "I can't tell you everything, not yet at least, but war will soon plague your world again. He will stop at nothing until he rules over all, until everything is reshaped in his own image." The voice said as it faded away "I don't understand." "Rest now young hero, prepare yourself for the storm that is fast approaching." "Wait! What're you talking about!" Finn yelled. The voice did not reply, but the yellow aurora began to glow brighter and brighter until it consumed Finn. Then there was nothing, but black.

**(I just want to say that I own the characters Michal, Anna, and Eli. I'm saying that because of some nagging by my family and friends. And one friend who read my story, said and I quote "You write like Hemingway". It brings a sense of pride into my heart, don't know who he is, but still. **

***Spoiler Alert* In the next chapter, the Queen of the Vampires appears ***


	3. Chicago Knight

**Chapter 3 Chicago Knight**

Finn opened his eyes, sat up in his bed and looked around the room. Jake was happily sleeping in his drawer, mumbling something about Meat man. _Was it just a dream?_ Finn thought, he arose from his bed and winched in pain as he placed his right leg on the floor. His leg had four thick scratches on the side, small drops of blood dripping out.

"Definitely not a dream." Finn examined the mark, wiping away the trace amounts of his blood. "The storm fast approaching." Finn said, remembering everything the voice had told him.

A knock came at his window, Finn jumped with surprise. It was still dark out, so making out the figure through the pane was difficult. Finn knew whoever was on the other side of the widow was a friend, because something evil wouldn't have caught him off guard. He walked over to the window, opened it and a black mass rushed in and hovered in the middle of the room. With a snap of fingers, several candles were lit. Finn smiled at the teenager in the candle light. Her knee length raven hair, polished blue in the light, covered her back as well as her axe base. She wore sneakers, denim jeans, and a red and black striped shirt.

"Hey Finn" she said in a cool yet daunting tone. "Not that I don't want you here Marceline, but why are you here?" Finn asked. "I had a gig in the Fire Kingdom, lost track of time and now I'm not gonna' be able to get home before sunrise. So it's cool if I hang here for the day, right?" Marceline said smiling showing the tips of her fangs. Finn nodded, having no problems with her company.

"And there's something I've wanted to do for a while now." She glided over to Finn, brought her face to his. Marceline looked into Finn's ocean blue eyes. He looked into her blood red eyes. Finn was speechless, a flash of red came to his cheeks. "Uuhhh" was the only sound that he made.

"Close your eyes, and wait for a surprise." Marceline said in a seducing voice. Finn did as he was told. Five seconds passed, and Marceline raised her hand to Finn's cheek, her bluish-gray skin clashing with his pale skin. She yanked the white bear hat off of Finn's head, causing his short blonde locks to flow in every which direction.

"Gimme' back my hat Marceline!" Finn demanded. Marceline smiled and said "You'll have to take it from me hero." With that statement, she flew down to the first floor. Marceline flew through the air with grace and speed with Finn, not far behind her. She and Finn raced through most of the house. "I'm serious Marce'." The vampire almost rammed into Eli when he came to investigate. "So am I." Marceline said as she soared into the living room.

"Oh just give the boy back his hat." Marceline stopped on a dime when she heard that voice. Finn ran straight into her and landed backward onto the floor. She glanced over and saw Michal sitting up on the couch. "Who are you?" Marceline said sounding confused. "Who's asking" Michal immediately answered. "The Queen of Vampires, that's who. Now answer my question." "I'm Marine Captain Michal Bates. Happy?"

A smile appeared on Marceline's face, showing the tips of her fangs. She dropped Finn's hat, and glided toward Michal. "I thought so." Marceline planted a kiss on his cheek, which left him confused. Michal rubbed where she had kissed him. "Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"I did that, because I never got to thank you for what you did in Chicago." Michal thought for a minute, his eyes widened as her stared at Marceline. "No way," Michal said standing up, "that's not possible." "What's not possible?" Finn said, hat firmly on his head. "I saved her life, a long time ago." Michal said looking back at Marceline.

**Chicago IL**

**August 22, 2008**

Night had fallen over the city of Chicago. Michal was in town for his brother David's bachelor party. David was going to be walking down the aisle with an 'ex'-prostitute. He had walked out on his brother's party for two reasons. One, his brother and his friend were a bunch of drunken idiots. Two, he'd rather not be there when the police bust through the door finding them with all those drugs and hookers. Michal was on his way to a local diner for some midnight coffee. It was too short of a drive to the diner, so he decided to walk.

The sounds of the city filled the air, sirens in the distance, people talking across the street, and so on. Michal was wearing his combat boots, jeans, and a gray zip up hoody with USMC written on the back. As he walked past an alleyway, he heard a loud noise. Followed by the words, "Stay down, and this will be over before you can scream for help."

Michal turned into the alley and saw a man holding a switch blade knife, standing over a pile of trash bags with someone lying on them.

"Drop the knife." Michal said in a very demanding tone. "Who's trying to tell me what to do" the man's head pivoted to look at Michal. "That would be First Lieutenant Michal Bates of the Marine Corp." "A Marine! Do you know how much street cred I'd get if I kill you? I could be the new Al Capone." Michal let out a small laugh. "You can try and kill me, but it ain't gonna be easy." With that said the man lunged forward, knife in hand. Michal dodged the blade with ease. Again and again, the man attacked Michal with his knife. Until Michal got tired of the charade, he grabbed the wrist of the arm which held the switchblade, applied pressure and the knife dropped to the ground. With the man defenseless, Michal's free hand turned into a fist and landed in his gut. He staggered backwards, arms wrapped around his stomach. He glared up at Michal evilly and charged. Michal made one clean punch to the side of the man's head. He went down with a thump, out like a light.

Knowing that the man wouldn't get up for a while, Michal stepped over to the pile of trash that held an individual, he looked closer to see it was a young girl about six or seven years old, holding onto a stuffed doll for dear life. The lieutenant walked back to the unconscious man, kicked him in his side and said "There's a special place in hell, for people like you."

Michal returned to the little girl lying in the trash and kneeled down. Her face was hidden by the shadows. "Hey, are you alright?" He said soothingly. The little girl nodded in reply. "Let's get you out of that trash." Michal extended his arm to help her up, and she winced at it. "No, is ok, I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise, and if anything, I'm probably the best protection you're ever going to have." This made the little girl look up at Michal. "I don't need no protection, it's just me and Hambo, together forever." She held the stuffed doll tighter. "Well, what can Hambo do?" The Lieutenant asked. "He… he can make the scary go away." She said in a flimsy voice. "It never hurts to have a bit of extra security now does it?" The child moved her head from side to side. "How bout' you tell me your name. I can't keep you safe unless I know what to call you. I'm Michal." He took the girl in his arms to see her better. She had short black hair that reached to the back of her neck, a purple under shirt below a denim dress with a pocket on the chest and straps going over her shoulders. Her face was so pale that it would put a ghost to shame.

"My name's Marceline." She said sounding less scared. "And when you say protection, what do you mean." Marceline said. "Well, I am in the Marine Corp." Michal said as he began to walk out of the alleyway. "So you're like a cross between a gladiator and a highly trained assassin." "Uhh… something like that." Michal paused, "How bout' I get some food in you. Sound good?" Marceline smiled "Yeah." She rested her head on his shoulder "That sounds great." She really didn't care where he took her as long as she was out of danger, in his arms, safe.

**(This isn't part of Michal's flashback, but I felt like I should include this little bit.)**

Several minutes passed and the man regained consciousness. He looked up and saw that the Marine and the girl were gone. He got up off the ground. "Shit, the boss is gonna be really pissed." The man staggered up and managed to make it to his car, got in, started it and drove off. He drove into a place where no one, not even policemen wanted to be at night, a dead zone.

He stopped his car at a corner bar, killed the engine and marched to the door of the bar. Knocked three times and a pair of eye appeared through a slit in the door. "What do you want?" Said a voice from behind the door. The man replied quickly "I need to talk to Sanchez." Several things shifted on the other side of the door and swung it open. The voice that was still behind the door said one thing "We only got one rule here, if it ain't your business, stay out of it."

The man entered the bar, people who were sitting at the bar and shooting pool glanced up at him, then went back to what they were doing. The man walked to the back of the bar where there was another door. He breathed in, and knocked on the door. "Come in." Came a Hispanic voice from the other side of the door. The man turned the knob and made his way into a room lit by a cone lantern hanging from the ceiling that only illuminated half of the area. The man shut the door and stood in the middle of the room.

"Is it done?" Said a man sitting behind a desk. "Not exactly boss." The man said.

"Dammit Mackey, I give you the easiest ones I can think of, and you always find a way to fuck it up!" The man behind the desk yelled. "You know damn well that we don't tolerate failure."

"It wasn't my fault this time, I-I got jumped." Mackey said with the sound of panic in his throat. "By a cop?"

"No boss, by a Marine." The boss leaned back in his chair and sighed. "You know what Mackey. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of this." The man in the chair leaned into the light. He was a rather handsome man. He had polished brown hair, a thin mustache sat on his face, and his skin was heavily tanned with a tattoo of an eye on his forehead. He wore an old tuxedo, tie and everything. "Oh, thanks boss, I thought you were gonna do somt…" The man in the chair quickly pulled out a handgun with a silencer attached to the muzzle and put two bullets in Mackey's chest. He dropped dead as a hammer, his blood spilling out on the floor.

"I'll handle this, just like I always do."

The boss put his gun away and motioned two of his thugs, who were standing in the shadows, to dispose of the body. He leaned back in the chair and said. "Bring me the girl and the marine."

* * *

Michal had brought Marceline to the diner where he was originally going to get coffee. Both sat in a booth, a waitress brought Michal his coffee and Marceline some French fries in a paper box. But she would barely touch them.

"Do you even know what that guy wanted with you?" Michal said out of the blue. "I actually do. He was a thug, working for a mob boss known as 'Seeing Sánchez'." This got Michal's attention and he put down his drink. "Why is he called that?" Michal questioned.

"For two reasons, one the most obvious is the eye tattoo on his head. Two, he's got eyes almost everywhere. And he wants me because I saw him murder somebody a few days ago. He sent that guy to keep me from going to the police." Marceline said. "Well, why didn't you go to them right away?" Michal said. "I did, they didn't believe me. No one ever does." Marceline looked down at her fries. "I believe you." Michal said. The small girl looked up him "You do?" "I have no reason not to." A bit of flush came to her eyes and cheeks, but the rest of her skin was still pale.

"Do you have a home, or a family we could go?" Marceline's cheerful face turned to a look of misery, tears developing in her eyes. Michal, realizing he had crossed a line, tried to change the subject. "No I mean like a, mom or…" Now Marceline was now bawling her eyes out. The lieutenant knew what to do in this situation. He rushed to her side, took her in his arms and comforted her. She planted her face into his shoulder and continued to weep. Michal began to stroke her black hair and told her that everything's ok. He grabbed Hambo, who was sitting patiently in Marceline's seat, and gave it to her. Marceline yanked the stuffed doll out of his hands without hesitation. With it in her hands, the crying slowed. The only words going through Michal's head were _Idiot, you God damn idiot._ A few of the patrons of the diner had glanced over to see what was happening and looked away slowly.

Marceline raised her head from Michal's tear stained shoulder, sniffled and said "I know a place where we could go, so can we?" Michal smiled "Whatever you want to do is fine with me." "So can I get those fries to go?" Michal nodded, set Marceline down so she could get her fries. He chugged the rest of his coffee, and put a twenty dollar bill on the table. He ambled out of the diner, with the little girl at his heels, finishing her fires.

When they reached Michal's car, a black Torus rental, he unlocked the car doors, both got in and Michal started the car. "Where is this place exactly?" Michal said as he powered up the GPS on the dashboard. Marceline responded almost immediately. "2728 Apple Street." The lieutenant typed the address into the computer and drove off to its directions. The estimated time of arrival was in about forty-five minutes. "That's a long way to walk, don't you think." Michal said. "I usually hitch a ride on a bus." Marceline said back.

As the car ride continued, Marceline laid her head on the arm of the door and shut her eyes. _Anna would love to meet her,_ Michal thought. When the computer gave its last direction, Michal turned the volume on the GPS down and nudged the girl awake. "Hey Marceline, we're almost there." Her eyes opened leisurely, and she stretched and yawned. Michal turned onto street with dim lighted street lamps. "Which one here is 2728?" Marceline pointed to an old and probably abandoned apartment building. Michal pulled his rental car to the side of the street in front of the three story building. "You live in there?" Marceline nodded. "Yeah, I've lived here for a while." "Well, I mean it's not exactly the Four Seasons, but it's no home sweet home either." Marceline looked at him with big eyes. "I live here because I have nowhere else to go."

Michal opened his door, as did Marceline. The two reached the opening where a door should be, it had several boards nailed into its frame. Marceline was able to crawl through one of the gaps with ease. Michal however had a bit of trouble with the doorway. He knew only one way that he was getting in the building. "Stand back." Michal waited until Marceline was at a safe distance, and kicked several boards out from the framework.

The lieutenant walked into the building, Marceline looked at him with uncertainty. "Uh, I left Hambo in the car, can you go get him." Michal nodded and returned to his car to find her stuffed doll. He found the doll lying in the floor boards. Michal picked it up. "I'd like how you can make the scary go away?"

A scream came from the complex. The lieutenant knew it had to come from Marceline. He stuffed Hambo into the pocket of his hoodie and ran to the building. He stopped on a dime in front of the door frame, when he saw Marceline in the arms of a gangster. She didn't dare move, because she knew why the man was here and what he was capable of.

"Make one move, and I snap her little neck." He said wrapping one hand around Marceline's head. Michal didn't know what to do. He had never been in this position before, not without a gun anyway. He took one step backwards, and heard the sound of a shotgun cocking. Michal turned to see who was holding the shotgun. There stood another gangster with another one behind him.

"We got orders straight from Sanchez to bring that girl in, and new orders to bring you in as well." The gangster said with smile. "Ok, but is the shotgun really necessary?" Michal asked, sounding concerned. "Oh this." He walked toward the lieutenant. "I only need it for one thing." The man took end of the shotgun and tried to butt Michal in the head with it. Before it made contact, Michal flipped the shotgun right out of the gangster's hands and into his own. Then Michal returned the favor by jamming the muzzle of the shot gun into his chest. He grunted in pain as he tumbled to the ground. Michal turned and pointed the man holding Marceline, both of them were wide-eyed. The lieutenant had somehow forgotten about the extra gangsters behind him. One came up behind him and tapped the back of Michal's head with a pistol. "I wouldn't do that if I was you." Michal understood that he was taking part in an old fashion Mexican standoff. So he lowered the weapon, only to have it be ripped from his grasp by the man Michal had jabbed in the chest. The gangster brought the end of gun to Michal's face. He fell backwards as he covered his face, muffling the sounds pain. When Michal removed his hands, he saw the shot gun come back for a second hit, rendering the lieutenant unconscious.

Marceline realized she was in trouble when he hit the floor and started to kick and scream for her freedom. The other two men picked up Michal and his unconscious body brought him and Marceline to a van. One of the thugs tied the lieutenant's hands together, and was thrown into the back. Marceline was tossed back with him regardless of her screaming. The child crawled up to Michal, trying her hardest to awaken him.

"Wake up…" Marceline whimpered as she nudged the Lieutenant. Two goons took the driver and passenger seat, the one that held the shotgun was in the back with Marceline and Michal. The van's engine roared to life, and drove off. "…please wake up." Her efforts were unsuccessful to do so, and when Marceline realized this, she buried her head into Michal's chest and cried softly.

Minutes passed, Marceline raised her head from Michal's chest, and looked directly at the man with the shotgun with tear filled eyes. "Why are you doing this to me?" The thug glanced over at her. "Because what Sanchez wants, Sanchez gets. And he wants you dead." "How did you even find us?" Marceline asked. The man smiled. "You should know, you said it yourself. He has eyes everywhere." The vehicle then came to a stop. Its back doors opened. Two different men came in and carried Michal out. The person who held the gun carried Marceline. They had brought them both to a warehouse, one that probably hadn't been used for its original purpose in years.

Once inside, Michal was bound on to a steel chair with handcuffs and placed in the middle of the warehouse. Several minutes later he awoke, his head throbbing. Michal's hand reached up to comfort his head but was stopped by the cuffs. "What the…" Michal pulled his hands and legs trying to free them from his shackles. Michal looked up when he realized he couldn't break them. "You might as well come out… I know somebody has to be here." No response, only an eerie silence. Then one gangster came into the light, followed by more and more. Until Sanchez himself stepped out of the shadows and continued in the direction of Michal. Multiple gangsters moved aside so he could get through to the lieutenant. When he reached Michal, he brought his eyes to Michal's. "Do you know who I am, Marine?" Sanchez asked. Michal looked around at all the gangsters and gave a moment's thought.

"My guess, is that you're the ass that everyone kisses." Sanchez's face shot a look of anger as he stepped back and snapped his fingers. "My name is Sanchez Caxias, I'm one of the bosses of the gang widely known as the Latin Kings."** (Real gang, I swear, look it up.)** One thug came up to Michal and dealt him a punch to the side of his face. It didn't even faze the Lieutenant. He looked up at the thug and smiled. "My little sister can hit harder than you." Michal said wittily, not admitting the fact that his sister is a police officer.

The thug took out a pair of brass knuckles from his pockets and placed them on his hands. "I should tell you now, when I was deployed in Iraq…" A second punch was delivered. "…I was captured by insurgents…" the thug struck Michal again. "…and tortured for over a month to see what information they could get out of me." Again fists flew to his head. "They never broke me. So, what makes you better than terrorists?" Michal said while a trail of blood flowing out from his nose. "Terrorists…" Sánchez snapped his fingers again. "…did not have this." A mobster came forward, Marceline in one hand and a handgun in the other, pointed directly at her head. Michal could see the fear in the child's eyes.

"Let her go!" the Lieutenant shouted. "I don't think I can do that…" Sanchez said. "…unless you and I can strike a deal." "No." Michal said. Sanchez breathed out his frustration. "Okay, let me put this in words that even a brute like you can understand. If you don't agree on this deal, the floor will have a new color on it." The man who had Marceline pulled the hammer back on his handgun, making it click.

"What kind of deal?" Michal asked. "We can talk in private." Sanchez motioned two of his goons to pick Michal up and follow him as well as the person holding Marceline. They were carried over to the side of the warehouse, up a flight of stairs, and into an office. There wasn't much in the office, a desk, a few chairs and a light overhead. An open window covered with shades looked out over the area where they had just been. The two set Michal down and left. The thug and Marceline came in as the other two left. Sanchez looked directly at him "Put the girl down and leave." The thug nodded and tossed Marceline to the ground. As he left, the thug locked the door behind him. "What's your name, Marine?" Sanchez said from behind the desk. "Michal." "I'll cut to the case Michal, because of you, I'm short one man. And you are the best replacement I can find on such short notice, so…" "So you want me to be a gangster." Michal blurted. "No, all I'm trying to say is that if you work for me, I'll let the girl go." Michal looked over to Marceline, she shook her head telling him not to fall for Sánchez's tricks. "Fine." Sánchez walked to the lieutenant and placed the key to the handcuffs in his hand. "Excellent." Michal unlocked the first cuff, then the second and lastly the two at his ankles. "Now for your first job." Sánchez said as he strode behind the desk.

"Kill the girl."

"What! You said if I work for you, you'd let her go!" Michal shouted, standing up from the chair. "True, she is free to leave…" Marceline tried to run when she heard those words but was frozen with fear. "…but I never said anything about letting her live." Sánchez grinned evilly. "What stops me from killing you?" Michal took one step forward. "This." Sánchez withdrew a revolver from his tuxedo vest and pointed it at Michal. "Now do as you are told." Michal looked over at Marceline who was scared as hell. "No, I won't." "What a shame it's going to be, wasting a man of your…"

A loud crash came from below, cutting Sánchez off. The words, "CPD, hands where we can see 'em," could easily be heard. That was followed by an exchange of gunfire. Sanchez jumped to the window to see the pandemonium. He was in awe as he watched the local police take down his gang. The Lieutenant crept up behind Sanchez and tried to wrench the gun out of his hand. The two fought relentlessly for control of the firearm, firing off several rounds.

All gunfire downstairs had completely died down, neither had noticed. Eventually the police made their way up the stairs; the locked door was only a kick away from being open. When it was, Michal and Sanchez had their hands around each other's throats. One policeman shot into the ceiling to get their attention.

"Both of you are under arrest." Three more officers entered the room, weapons drawn. "Officers, this is just a huge misunderstanding." Sanchez walked toward the cop, placing a hand on his shoulder. The officer slapped a handcuff on the hand and said "Right, 'cause you're the other guy with the eye tattoo on his head." He put the other cuff on his free hand and showed him out. "Do you know who I am!" was the last thing Sanchez said before he was out of earshot. Another policeman approached Michal with caution. "I'll walk myself to the police car and do some explaining at the station, just bring the girl over there." Michal walked himself out, wiping the blood from his face. The officer was at a complete loss, but when he saw Marceline he immediately picked her up and carried her to a police car.

Everyone had been taken to the Chicago Police Station and placed in holding cells, gangster with gangster. But the lieutenant was put in a cell with an idiot who was drunk off his ass. Michal sat on the bench, wondering when the man was going to pass out. The idiot was dancing and singing to a song that wasn't even playing. After twenty minutes, Michal couldn't take it anymore, he rushed over to the bars.

"Can I please have my one phone call?" Moments later a guard came to grant him his wish. Michal punched in a number into the pay phone and waited. A groggy voice came from the other end.

"This is First Lieutenant Michal Bates, can you direct me to your boss." The person groaned. "One moment." Waiting music came for a few seconds. Then a southern voice came on the line "Hello." "Uh hi, Mister President…" his face grew a smile "…time to use that favor you owe me."

After some explaining, Michal said goodbye. He hung the phone up and the guard showed him back to the cell, with the idiot who was still dancing. Five minutes later the guard returned and opened the door. "Because of the orders from the president of the United States, you are free to go." Michal walked out of cell and down the hall. He stopped when he saw Sanchez.

"Hope you enjoy rotting in federal prison you piece of shit." Michal kept on walking. "And I hope you enjoy the short period of time called the rest of your life. 'Cause when I get out of here Michal, you are a dead man! You hear me? Dead!" Every other gangster in the station glared at him as he walked by.

When he walked into the waiting room of the station, Marceline came out of nowhere and bear hugged his leg. "She's been waiting for you, wouldn't talk to anyone." Said a policeman from behind his desk. Michal let out a small laugh and wobbled his way over to him, the girl still wrapped around his leg.

"Can I have the stuff I came in here with." The man nodded, left and came back carrying a small box. He pulled out things in the box as he said what they were. "Cell phone, wallet, and this stuffed animal, thing." Michal put the cell phone and wallet into his pocket. He took Hambo down to Marceline's level.

"Here's something else to suffocate." Her grasp went from his leg, and straight to the doll. Michal picked her up and headed out, but was stopped by the man behind desk. "Would you like a police escort?" the Lieutenant turned back to the man. "Sure, why not." "There should be a man outside at a white police van, who is going to take you where ever you need or want to go." Michal went outside and was greeted by a man leaning on a van, just as the desk jockey had said. "Where too?" the man asked. "2728 Apple Street, if you please." Michal answered. All three entered the vehicle, it roared to life and took off. The first few minutes, no one breathed a word. Marceline's eyes began to droop and her head rested itself against the window.

The driver was the first to break the silence. "Anyway, what brings you to Chicago?" "I'm here for my brother's bachelor party." "So why are you…?" Michal cut him off. "There's a reason our parents had him removed from the will." The driver nodded, which told Michal that either he didn't care or he didn't want to know. The rest of the way to the destination was as silent as a tomb. Marceline was dead asleep by the time they had reached their destination. Hambo was slipping from her hands but Michal grabbed it before it fell. The lieutenant opened and closed the door carefully and walked over and into the apartment building. The place was a bit run down, yet still habitable. The first floor was obviously her bedroom. An old couch had a moldy pillow and a torn up blanket placed on it. Several articles of clothing were randomly tossed into a corner. A framed picture with cracked glass had a family portrait inside. Michal examined the photo, it had Marceline and two people who he guessed were her parents.

Her mother had long black hair, reddish eyes, and pale skin that resembled her daughter's. The father was a tall and dark figure, he wore a tuxedo that was as black as his soulless eyes. The small family was crowded under an umbrella, held up by the father.

Michal glanced over to Marceline, she was adjusting herself on the couch, still asleep. He decided to look around the apartment to see if there was any other place to let her sleep. The first floor only had the area with the sofa, a reception desk. The second story had two rooms, both were filled to the brink with trash. The third story had only one room and it had a gaping hole in the ceiling. With no success, he returned to Marceline who had curled into a ball. "You deserve better than this, kid."

Michal rushed out of the building, to the rental car and back with a duffle bag. He placed whatever he thought was hers in the bag, clothes, the picture frame, and Hambo. With the bag slung over his shoulder, he lifted Marceline off the couch and went back to his car. He gently placed her on the seat and got in. He started the car and drove off after he typed 'orphanage' into the GPS.

* * *

The orphanage was a nice place, it looked like it might have been a school before it was converted. Michal knocked on the door and a middle aged woman opened it, a chain linked the door and the frame.

"Hello." The lieutenant said, sounding a bit worried. "Can I come in?" The woman saw Marceline in his arms and unchained the door. The lady stood there in the door. "Throwing your own daughter into the system, what shame you have." "She's not mine." Michal said as he walked through the entrance "But I figured here is better than the streets." The woman nodded in agreement. "By the way, that's the last thing I would every do to my daughter." "I can take her to a room." Michal handed Marceline and the duffle bag over to the woman. "Please talk to Elaine in the office if you have any information on this little girl." She pointed over to another person inside what would have been the old school office. The woman turned around and walked down the hallway. Michal stepped toward the office, but turned to see Marceline's face for the last time. She looked so peaceful, so at ease. The lieutenant walked into the office and Elaine greeted him as he walked in.

"I'm supposed to give you information about a new girl." "Sure," Elaine pulled out a clipboard. "Tell me everything you know about her." "Okay uh, her name's Marceline, she's really shy." The woman wrote as fast as he could talk. "Don't mention her parents, it'll make start crying. But if she does start crying, her stuffed toy Hambo will calm her down a little." Michal finished telling all the fact he had gotten from her. "Can I have a pen and paper?" He asked. Elaine nodded, handed him both and he began to write.

_Marceline _

_Since the place you called home wasn't the best place for a person like you, I brought you here. The people here will make sure that you get the home you deserve, so I want you to work with them. All of your stuff is in a duffle bag, including Hambo and that picture frame. I would take you in as my own, but it's hard enough for a single parent to raise two kids. I'm so sorry I couldn't say goodbye to your face but my plane leaves at the crack of dawn and it's almost that. I hope we'll meet again someday. Until that day comes, I hope you do the right thing and that you won't lose track of your moral code._

_Michal _

He signed the paper at the bottom, folded it twice and handed the paper to the woman. "Can you give this to Marceline when she wakes up." She nodded and took the paper. "She is going to be all right here, isn't she?" Michal asked. "Oh of course, every child is looked after as if they were our own." "That's good to hear." The lieutenant then made his way out of the school and back to his car. Just as he opened the driver door, he stared back at the orphanage, wondering if he had made the right choice. He looked at the watch on his wrist. The hands told him that it was four-forty five am. Michal let out a sigh. "See 'ya later Marceline." He stepped into rental car, started it and drove off into the night.

Now back to reality. Michal had enlightened Finn about the first time he had met Marceline. Finn couldn't believe what he had just heard. Eli had stopped listening a while ago. He was focused mostly on Marceline. He walked up to her and tried to talk to her but only a stuttered mess left his lips.

She smiled at the human boy, "Come back later when you learn how to talk again, okay." Marceline floated back upstairs. "Smooth, Eli. Smooth." He said giving himself a mental face-palm.


	4. Til Death Do Us Part

**Chapter 4 Till Death Do Us Part**

After his failed attempt at a good first impression with Marceline, Eli made his way over to Finn. "So Finn, how much can you tell me about Marceline?" Finn scratched his head in thought. "Marceline is a radical dame who loves to play games. You probably heard her when she said she was the Queen of Vampires, and I also know that she's not looking for a relationship right now." Eli tilted his head back and let out a small laugh. "Well I'm sure I can change that in good time."

Finn looked out the window and saw the sun peeking over the mountains of the Ice kingdom. His mind wandered to the dream he had just moments ago. About the creature that attacked him and the voice that saved him. "Hey Finn." Michal's voice put Finn's head back on his shoulders. He turned his head toward the Captain. "Would you mind if I ask you a question?" "Sure but I would wait 'til…" A girlish scream came from upstairs and everyone looked up at the ceiling. "…Oh, Jake's up." Finn said amusingly. Jake came running down the stairs, tripping on the last step. Marceline followed behind the dog, laughing. "It's just too easy and too fun to scare you Jake." She stopped laughing when she saw a beam of sunlight hit the wall. "I'll be in the attic if you guys need me." After she said that, Marceline gave Eli the evil expression she was known too well for and hovered back upstairs. Eli's eyebrows were raised, '_play games huh'_ he thought to himself. Jake got up when was sure that the vampire monarch was gone. "Vampires still kinda' creep me out." Michal and Eli faces gave yet another surprised look. "Cool, a talking dog." Eli blurted out. "Why would you say that, your dad completely flipped out when he saw Cinnamon Bun." Eli smiled and said "Most of my childhood was based around talking dogs."

Desperate to change the subject to something else Finn went back to the Captain. "So Michal, what was that question you had?" Michal stood up from the couch. "This is probably a dumb question, but do you have any coffee?" Jake walked past Michal towards the kitchen. "We got all kinds of flavors, so whatya' want." Michal was dumbfounded as he watched the dog stretch his body from where he stood across the room on his hind legs. "Anything but decaff." He said walking behind Jake.

Finn had waited for his brother to be out of earshot before asking Eli something. "I told you about Marceline, now can you tell me about Anna?" Eli sucked air in through his teeth. "I would, but that would break the pact that me and my sister made." "Pact?" "Yeah, me and Anna both agreed a long time ago that if one sibling found a 'person of interest' the other will not say or do anything to ruin their chances with the 'person of interest' and vice versa." Finn looked at Eli with confusion. "Uh okay then, tell me what Ooo was like before the Mushroom war?" "Well first of all…" he went to sit where his father was on the couch. "This place was called Earth not Ooo. Home of almost eight billion humans." Eli told Finn everything about the world he once knew. His eyebrows rising every now and then.

Michal and Jake reentered the room after several minutes with cups of coffee in hand by the time Eli had finished telling Finn about social media. Jake sat next to Eli on the couch while Michal just stood. "Hey Dad, why don't tell Finn about the Marines." Finn put his hand on Eli's shoulder. "Actually, I'd like to know two things. One, what did you do to the Ice King?" A halfhearted smile crept on to the Captains face. "I might have broken his arms a bit." Michal brought the cup to his lips. "And that leads to my next question, why are you so protective of Anna?" Michal lowered the coffee cup and a look of sorrow fell on to his face. "Do you really want to know?" Finn nodded as Michal took a leather wallet out of his pocket, he unfolded it and handed the wallet to the young adventurer. Inside the wallet was a small picture of Michal, who had his arm wrapped around what looked like an older version of Anna. "Her name's Lindsey, she was and still is the love of my life." "She's beautiful." "I know, I was married to her for four years before she died." Finn looked up from the wallet. "Oh I'm sorry, h-how did she die?" Michal sighed as he forced up his next words. "A drunk driver hit her when she was driving home. Anna was actually in the car with her when it happened." Finn had no idea what a car was, but he kept listening anyway. "By the time the police had arrived, Lindsey had already bled to death and the driver was long gone. Two days later they arrested him in an office that he worked in and told him what he had done. The very next day, he killed himself." "What!" Finn said sounding surprised. "The police guessed that the thought that he killed a mother of a girl not a year old was just too much grief. But that bastard was lucky I was overseas at the time." Finn returned the wallet to the Captain. "I'm a little scared to ask why he was lucky." Eli answered before his father could. "Because my dad would have hunted him down like an animal, make suicide look like a cake walk."

The steady flapping of wings could be heard from outside. Finn opened the door to see princess Bubblegum and Anna on top of the princess' swan. As the bird landed, Finn greeted them both. Anna jumped off the swan and made her way toward the tree fort. "After one night with her I could tell she would the most fun here, plus I got a ton of royal junk to do." As the princess and her swan took off into the sky Eli came up behind Finn and asked. "How many giant birds does she have?"

Anna looked around the home of Finn and Jake looking a little bothered but only Michal noticed it. "Is something wrong Anna?" She forced a smiled at her father. "Yeah, it's still just that this whole thing is still a little weird." Eli walked past Anna and stood in the doorway of the kitchen. "Well look on the bright side sis." Anna crossed her arms. "What exactly would the bright side be?" Eli stood in a position like he was ready to run. "You and Finn get to repopulate the earth." Both Finn's and Anna's faces turned bright red, Anna with more anger than embarrassment. Eli's comment made Anna mad enough to grab the closest thing she could, which just happen to be Jake, and hurled it at her brother. Eli easily dodged the screaming dog and ran, proud of what he had just done. Once some of the blush had escaped Anna's face she turned to Finn. "You'll have to excuse my brother, he's kind of an idiot." "No it's fine." Finn walked over to his brother who was holding his head in pain. "He's not as bad as Marceline."

Finn knelt down and whispered in his ear. "Because I got a lot on my mind right now, I'm going to count that as your ass kicking, okay." Jake nodded and hoped Finn would keep his word.

**(Yeah I know this chapter was short, but I've got writer's block at the moment. And if anyone wants to hold their breath for chapter 5, don't. I'm going to be gone for over a month in the mountains. **


	5. Battle Music

**(I'm back and before I say anything I would like to personally thank everyone who has reviewed the last four chapters, especially the one PS2wizard from whose comment inspired this chapter. Anyway here's chapter 5.)**

**Chapter 5 Battle Music**

Finn arose from the side of his brother who was trying to recover. "How would you like it if me and Jake show you two around Ooo." He said to the Captain and his daughter. They both agreed knowing that it would be the best thing to at the moment. Finn turned back to Jake as he staggered up. "You think you're up for that?" "Yeah I'm good, but that girl has one heck of a throwing arm." Jake looked directly at Anna who had a blank face.

As everyone filled out of the tree fort, Jake stretched himself large enough so the three humans could fit on his back. Michal and Anna were yet again dazed. "Scooby Doo never did that." Michal said as he stepped on to the giant dog and once Anna jumped on behind him Jake stretched his legs so they were high in the sky. Anna looked over the side and immediately brought her head back up. "This is still to freaky" Finn and Jake began the tour of the land they know and love.

Five minutes after they had left, Eli came back to the living room. "Hey is it safe to come ba…" He stopped talking when he realized there was no one in the room but him. Eli began to look around the house for any sign of life. Kitchen, no. Bedrooms, no. The bathroom had bemo standing on a stool talking to himself in the mirror. Eli opened a closet and a bunch of swords fell out of it. He dodged the weapons as they landed on the floor, leaving chips and scratches. "Man, those guys really like their sharp stuff." As Eli continued his search he continued find nothing, until he reached the attic. He walked up into the attic and he saw Marceline floating in mid-air, tuning her axe guitar and paying no mind to the adolescent. "Hey, is anyone else up here?" "Huh looks like someone learned how to talk, and no it's just you and me." "I can't believe this!" Eli said irritably. His sudden outburst caught Marceline's attention. "What happened?" "I make one little joke and they just ditch me." Marceline turned herself upside down. "What was the joke?" Eli shrugged. "Oh it was just about Finn and Anna repopulating the human race." The Vampire Queen asked who Anna was and received an answer immediately. "Well some people can't take a joke."

Eli noticed her instrument for the first time. "You play guitar?" "Yeah, and pretty damn well if I might add." A smile grew on Eli's face. "Well I don't mean to brag but I was the lead guitarist in a garage band before I was frozen." "Oh, well in that case…" Marceline slammed the sharpened edge of the guitar onto the attic floor, wedging in the floor boards. This made Eli jump half a mile and screamed. "…play something." It took Eli a minute to realize what she had said. He grabbed the neck of the guitar and removed it from the floor. "Anything?" Eli asked. He was answered with a nod. "All right then." Eli began to strum the guitar, making a peaceful sound.

"_Honey why you calling me so late"_

"_It's kinda hard to talk right now"_

"_Honey why are you crying? Is everything okay?"_

"_I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud_

"_Well, my girl's in the next room"_

"_Sometimes I wish she was you"_

"_I guess we never really moved on"  
"It's really good to hear your voice saying my name"  
"It sounds so sweet"  
"Coming from the lips of an angle"  
"Hearing those words makes me weak"_

"_Let it die"  
"Never wanna say goodbye"_

"_But girl you make it hard to be faithful"_

"_With the lips of an angle"  
_

"_It's funny that you're calling me tonight"_

"_And yes I've dreamt of you too"_

"_Does he know you're talking to me"_

"_Will it start a fight"  
"No I don't think she has a clue"_

"_Well, my girl's in the next room"_

"_Sometimes I wish she was you"  
"I guess we never really moved on"  
"It's really good to hear your voice saying my name"  
"It sounds so sweet"  
"Coming from the lips of an angle"  
"Hearing those words makes me weak"_

"_Let it die"  
"Never wanna say goodbye"_

"_But girl you make it hard to be faithful"_

"_With the lips of an angle"_

"_It's really good to hear your voice saying my name"_

"_It sounds so sweet"  
"Coming from the lips of an angle"  
"Hearing those words makes me weak"_

"_Let it die"  
"Never wanna say goodbye"_

"_But girl you make it hard to be faithful"_

"_With the lips of an angle"_

"_Honey why you calling me so late?"_

Marceline just floated there, speechless. She wanted to melt at the sound of his voice. She wanted to tell him that what she had just listened to was the most amazing thing she had ever heard. But she wasn't going to just spill her guts to a mere mortal. "That was kinda good." Eli handed the axe guitar back to its owner. "Well, I guess I'll be going then." Marceline flew in front of Eli to stop him in his tracks. "I never said you could leave mortal…" Eli's face became a little worried at the thought of what she would do. Because when he had ran from his sister's wrath several minutes ago, he had heard Finn exclaim that Marceline is worse than him. Finn hasn't known Eli for a day, and keeping his own past in mind the thought seems unlikely. But still, a person has to keep an open mind. "… not before you tell me your name." "Eli." He said, some of the worry vanishing from his face. "Well Eli, how would you like to sing a few songs with me?" She said with a small smile on her face, holding guitar her with both hands. Eli returned a smile. "Sure, sounds like fun."

As Marceline and Eli jammed in the attic of the tree fort, Finn and Jake toured Michal and Anna around the land that they know and love. "So I was thinking we would start our little tour with just random places, is that okay with you guys." Finn said as he looked back to Michal and Anna. "We have nothing else to do, plus we're along for the ride." Anna answered for both of them. "Sweet, than onward to the mountains my trusty steed!" Jake knew Finn was talking to him, so he neighed like a horse and rushed towards the Mountain Kingdom.

As they began the trek, Finn told the two stories of his past adventures. He recalled the time he and Jake happily walked into the coliseum of the Fight King, how they were forced to fight and defeat ghost gladiators. Michal was the first to speak his mind. "That seems a little farfetched, don't ya think." Finn glared at the Captain with a small frown. "You think I made it up." "Well it's just that, it is kinda hard to believe that you fought ghosts." Anna said with doubt. "Hey Jake, forget the mountains. Let's take these guys to Choose Goose." The giant dog stopped and looked at his brother. "Are you sure Finn, Choose Goose is into some pretty weird stuff, even by our standards." "Yeah I know, but if they don't believe in stuff like that, they will after they see that crazy bird."

About ten minutes later all four arrived at Choose Goose's magic shack. Jake shrank back down to his normal size so everyone could get off. When Choose Goose realized he had customers, he greeted them formally. "Ah the two young adventurers have arrived, and with two friends that should not be alive." The bird's greeting raised the eyebrows on the humans. "You wanna run that by us again." Michal said, leaning closer to Choose Goose. "I know you two have come before, the infamous Mushroom War." "How did you find that out Choose Goose?" Jake said. "Word travels fast in the land of Ooo, but what can I do for you." Finn stepped forward. "Choose Goose, these two don't believe in magic, I want you to change that." Choose Goose rubbed his bill in thought. "Oh I know the perfect thing…" he dove under the counter of his shack only to return with a bow in hands or wings more rather. The box was about as big as a shoe box but was wooden with a metal latch. He turned the latch and opened the box to reveal an assorted collection of rings and necklaces. "…magic bling!"

Anna walked up to the box and looked at the different jewelry. She picked up a necklace. The thread was black, attached to the thread were five small beads on either sides of a bright yellow gem. "Would you mind if I try this on." Choose Goose nodded. "Go right on ahead, as long as you pay my friend." She had no idea what Choose Goose had just said, so she ignored him and tried the necklace on. But the second the black thread hit her neck, a white smoke exploded around her. Causing everyone to look away for a moment and then the smoke faded away to nothing. When Finn and Michal opened their eyes, they saw Anna was gone. Michal looked around frantically for his daughter, calling her name aloud. Finn was about to do the same when Jake tapped his side, he moved his head so he could ask Jake what he wanted. That's when a flash of yellow caught his eye. "Anna, where are you!" Michal yelled. "Uh, dude." Michal turned to Finn who was pointing at the ground, he followed the boy's finger and saw a small stripped cat with sand colored fur. It sat on the grass where Anna was standing, looking around from its perspective. Dangling from its neck was a gem, the same color as the fur. Michal rushed over, and gently picked the cat up. "Anna, is that you?" Michal said looking directly at the cat's face. The small cat let out a meow, but Michal wasn't sure if it really was her. "Well then, I guess it's a bad thing that I'm a dog person, huh." As a response the cat drew back its ears and hissed. "Yep, that's you." Finn walked up to Choose Goose. "How do we change Anna back to normal?" "Take off the necklace, and the girl won't have a cat face." As Finn turned to tell Michal what to do but he had already heard. Once the necklace was off, the cloud of smoke reappeared and then so did Anna. She yanked the necklace from Michal's hands and tossed it back into the box. Anna turned to Finn, very mad and also trying hard to fight back tears. "You didn't have to turn me into a cat Finn!" Finn was shocked, he didn't know what to say. "Uh that, it was, I don't…" "You know what, save it!" The tears began to form in her eyes. "I don't wanna hear anything you have to say right now!" After that, Anna ran off into the woods. The Captain sighed. "I'll go talk to her." He said as he walked after his daughter. "Oh my, bye bye." Finn was a little annoyed by his retort. "Choose Goose, shut up." He said as he started walking after Anna as well, only to be stopped by Jake's overly outstretched hand. Finn turned to see his brother shaking his head, telling him to let her own father handle the situation.

Michal wandered through the forest, looking for Anna. Every now and then he would call out her name. While he was walking Michal could have sworn heard the soft sounds of crying. Michal followed the sound and they lead him straight to Anna. She was sitting at the base of a tree. Her arms wrapped the legs that were pressed up against her chest, crying into her knees. The Captain knelt next to the weeping girl. "What's wrong?" Anna looked up at her father with her tear stained face. "I want to go home." She said in a shaky voice. "Um, Anna we…" "Ya I know, we can't. It got blown up, along with the rest of the world. When we got in those tubes, you promised everything is gunna be okay. How can you see a bright future?" Anna was right and Michal knew it. No matter how many times he broke down the current turn of events, life would never be the same for their small family. Michal sat down to try and comforted her "Anna I'm gunna tell you the truth, uh, people almost never see a bright future in anything." Anna buried her face back into her knees. "You're not very good at this are you Dad." "No I'm terrible at this, but those who can't see that future, make it happen. And the blood of a Marine that runs through your veins, says you're strong, you're willing, you're stubborn…" He placed his hand on her shoulder "…and that you're ready for almost anything that life has to throw at you." Anna looked back up at Michal and tilted her head onto his upper arm. The captain stood up and reached for her hand. "How 'bout we stop this tour and just go back to Finn and Jake's tree house." Anna took her father's hand. "Okay."

The two humans made their way back to Choose Goose's shack to find Finn and Jake waiting for them. "You all right Anna?" Finn said. "Yes everything's fine Finn." She said still with an unsteady voice and Finn knew she was lying. He wanted to make her smile, so he thought what would make anyone happy and then it hit him. "Hey Anna, how much do you like apple pie?" Jake gaped at Finn's question, as he exactly what he was talking about, but Anna didn't really know how to respond. "Well I did like the apple pies from McDonald's." A wide grin appeared on Finn's face. "Then I know exactly where you need to go."

After some time they reached the little pink house, which belonged to the one and only Tree Trunks. Whose apple pies are almost as famous as the hero Billy. "Trust us Anna, if Tree Trunk's pie won't put a smile on that face, nothing will." Jake said as the three humans hopped off of him. Finn knocked on the door and the little green elephant opened the door. "Finn, Jake come in. Oh and I see you brought friends." Michal and Anna followed the two adventurers in the small house, which was a bit crowded with the five people inside of it. "Tree Trunks, this is Michal and Anna, they're new to Ooo and need to taste the delight that is your apple pie." "Well you're in luck, I just put a fresh pie in the oven. It should be ready in about ten minutes. You boys can wait outside till then." Everyone walked toward the door, except for Michal who was waddling due to the low ceiling. "But not you Anna, I want to talk to you." Anna stayed behind as the rest of them wandered outside.

"What did Finn mean when he said you and Michal are new to Ooo?" She sat down at the table and told Tree Trunks her family's story as if it were nothing, but Anna knew how to fake being happy about something, and Tree Trunks knew how to spot that. "Let me tell you a story, one pretty girl to another." Anna just nodded. "One day, I went on an adventure with Finn and Jake to find the crystal gem apple. When we found it in a dark and scary forest, I took a bite out of it. Then I was transported to a crystal dimension, became a bit crazy with power, and was named Quartzia, Queen of the crystal men." "Umm." "Several weeks later, I had Finn captured to be made my king. But Finn and Jake stopped me before I did anything I'd regret." The young girl waited for Tree Trunks to finish before she started to talk. "Nice story, but why are you telling it to me?" "Because your eyes said that you needed some comfort." Anna was shocked "M-my eyes." "Mmhm, they also say you're scared, like you don't belong here and they're wrong." "But I don't belong here, Princess Bubblegum told me basically everything that's out there. Demons, giants and basically everything in between. I was born and raised in the suburbia of San Francisco. If that stupid war had never happened, I'd be with my friends at the mall, living the life I was supposed to live." She said bowing her head, the tears reforming in her eyes. "Hey now…" Tree Trunks used her trunk to raise her head. "… I don't know what you're talking 'bout, but I know how I can make you feel better." Anna wiped her eyes with her hands. "How?" "You need to find something in this world that brings you joy." "Like what?" "Well I have my apples, the Princess has her Kingdom, and Finn just likes lending a hand where it's needed." Anna still had her doubts about the subject. "Does it really work?" "Well of course, how else do you think I got used to living next door to a troll family?" Out of the courner of Anna's eyes, she could see movement. She turned her head and saw her Dad, Finn, and Jake. Tree Trunks words ran through her mind as she focused on Finn, _'joy'._

The timer on the stove went off, making Anna jump. "Oh my pie is done." Before Tree Trunks removed the pie from the oven she went to the open window. "Now y'all boys come in now, the pie is ready." Within ten seconds Finn and Jake were at the door, Michal right behind them. As everyone took their seats, Tree Trunks served the pie slices. Jake wasted no time eating "If by any chance you two don't like your pie, me and Jake would be happy to take it." Finn said taking the first bite of his slice. Anna and Michal raised their pies at the same time, but Anna hesitated. "This isn't going to turn me into anything, is it?" Michal sighed. "Anna just eat the thing, it's actually really good." She followed her father's command and tried the pie, and it was glorious. Everyone relished every bite until only the crumbs remained. "You were right Jake, that was perfect." Anna said, hands on her stomach. "Yeah, I haven't eaten anything that good since the Bates family reunion Strong's steakhouse."

Finn thought as he heard Michal's words, then he had the feeling as if he was forgetting something. "Strong, strong?" Finn continued to think until he realized what he had forgotten and Finn's hand meet his forehead. "I can't believe I almost forgot about her." Jake raised his head from the table. "Forget about who, Finn?" "Susan." Anna tilted her head. "Who's Susan?" "She's another human." Finn answered immediately. Michal and Anna were very surprised, so surprised that it would have been a textbook, spit take moment. "How does something like that slip your mind?" Michal asked. The human boy shrugged. "I don't know my mind sometimes works in…" Finn wiggled his fingers on either side of his head. "… mysterious ways. Do you two wanna' meet her?" "Well yeah!" Anna said leaning forward. Jake then jumped on to the top of the table. "Then our next stop is Beautopia!" Jake at that moment did a backflip off the table and bounced like a ball out the door. "Sometimes I worry about him." Finn said as he made his way to the door but he turned around half-way. "But that's ok, 'cause sometimes I worry about myself too." Finn then turned back and ran after Jake to make sure he didn't disappear. Michal turned to Anna. "That kid is some kind of strange, ain't he." "Well when you get past some of the randomness, he's actually kinda fun." The two humans said goodbye to Tree Trunks and followed the two adventurers. "Now y'all come back anytime you want, oh and Anna don't you forget about what you need to find." Tree Trunks called out after them. "I won't." Anna shouted back.

Once the group reached the hatch that leads to Beautopia, Michal saw the Candy kingdom in the distance and asked Jake if he could retrieve the duffle bags he and Eli had left there. The dog was happy to grant the wish. That left Finn, Michal, and Anna to go by themselves to the underground city. As they made their way down the ladder, it got darker and darker. Finn was the first to step off the ladder, so he blinked several times so his eyes could adjust to the darkness. Michal and Anna appeared in Finn's eyesight, along with millions of random objects that littered the ground.

"Come on, it's this w…" Finn stopped dead as he held out his arms to stop the other two as well. Twenty-five feet in front of them was a yellow animal pool toy, just sitting on the edge of a platform and completely oblivious to the humans. Michal was the only one to speak. "Finn, what the hell?" "Lub-glub, it's really hard to explain what it is. But what it is is just horrible. But don't worry I have…" Finn reached back to right above his pack. He stopped in mid sentence when he realized he went to grab air. "I'm such an idiot! My sword is back at the tree house!" Finn yelled. The pool toy turned its head and stared at them. "Michal, give me your jacket." "Why?" Michal asked. "I don't have time to explain, just give me your jacket and please don't go near that thing." Michal decided to just give Finn his light camo jacket. Finn took the article of clothing and ran off out of sight. Michal glanced at the pool toy that was staring back and started to walk toward it. "Uh, Dad." Anna whispered. The Captain stopped to whisper back. "I didn't promise anything, now did I?" He kept on until the pool toy was at his feet. "Horrible." Michal laughed and kicked the pool toy back a foot. He raised an eyebrow as the pool toy began to shake. It deflated as a black mass with tentacles and teeth pierced through the rubber and roared at the Captain. "Holy crap!" was the only thing Michal said before the lub-glub grabbed him and pinned him to the ground. Michal placed his hands on the thing to keep it from biting off his face. As the lub-glub snapped it's misshapen teeth before drawing back for a better attack pose. But before it could strike, Michal pulled out his Glock and fired off two rounds. The lub-glub screamed in pain, not from the bullets but from flash of the gun. Michal quickly got up and tackled the lub-glub into the water. Anna didn't know what just happened. She walked slowly and cautiously toward the vanishing ripples. "D-Dad." She said wearily. Everything was still, the only thing that was audible was Anna's accelerated heart beat. The lub-glub jumped out of the water and roared at Anna, she would have screamed but she was paralyzed with fear. Before the lub-glub could reach her, Finn grabbed Anna's arm and flung her him. She scrapped her hands as she fell, but it's still better than what would have happened to her if Finn hadn't done that.

While Finn was gone, he had found a pointed piece of wood that would work as a make-shift sword. He tied Michal's jacket to the pointed end and lit it on fire with a match. Before the lub-glub could attack the new target, Finn drove the flaming wood into the black flesh of the strange being. It cried in pain as the light from the flame reduced it to nothing but shreds of yellow rubber. Once it was dead, Finn made sure Anna was okay. "I'm fine. I-I'm just a little freaked out." The two of them heard something emerge from the water. Finn, acting on his warrior instinct, turned and pointed the burning wood at whatever came out of the water. He instantly lowered the make-shift weapon when he saw it was Michal. He couldn't help but look angry at him. "I told you not to go near that thing, Michal." The Captain put both of his hands above his head. "I know, but in defense, you never told me something like that would happen." What took you so long to come up, anyway? Finn asked. Michal answered as he pointed to his holster. "Dropped my gun." Both of them smiled at each other, but Finn's smile faded when he saw what was on Michal's shoulder. A green frog with orange polka dots, roughly the size of a baseball made Finn back up slowly. "Michal, don't make any sudden movements." He glanced at his shoulder and let out a small laugh as he stepped out of the water. "You were brave when it came to that glub thing, but you're scared of this frog." Michal removed the frog from his shoulder, set it on the ground and took two steps forward. What Michal did not realize, that when he set the frog down it started to expand. "That's kinda' pathetic, don't you think." Finn stepped back from the Captain and he looked back at the amphibian. Michal looked back at the frog that was once the size of a baseball but is now the size of a yoga ball. "Oh come on." Michal said right before the frog exploded, sending green slime all over him. Finn stayed where he was, which was a few inches away from the splash zone. "Well there's good news and bad news, Michal." Michal wiped some slime from his face so he could see. "The good news, the slime comes off with water. The bad news…" Anna had walked up behind Finn and toward her father. "Whoa Dad, you look like you just got honored at the kid's choice awar…" Anna instantly slid back with her hand covering her nose and mouth. "Eeewww! That's disgusting!" Finn continued with the bad news. "…the smell is the tricky part."

**(The name of the song Eli sang was origionally 'Not Alone', by likin park. But then I found a better song to place in this chapter, 'Lips of an Angle' by Hinder.)**


	6. Nightmares

**(The only thing I own are my OC's, like the new one that appears in this very important chapter.) **

**Chapter 6 Nightmares**

Twenty three days had passed since Michal was covered in frog guts and a lot had happened. But shortly after the incident with the frog, the three had learned Susan was missing. Finn and Jake had returned the day after to find that Susan had left a week ago with a 'hairy man' as said by the hyoomens. The two investigated her disappearance for two days, but every clue lead to a dead end.

On the fifth day, the princess had announced the completion of the Bates knew home on the outskirts of the Candy Kingdom. It was nothing more than medium sized cottage carved into a hill.

On the ninth day, Eli turned seventeen years old. The only gifts that were mentionable were the ones that Finn and Marceline gave the young man. Marceline had somehow found him a red and black bass guitar. Finn got him something that he knew he would need, a sword. Well, he didn't give it to him per say. He took Eli on a hike to a village close to the Goblin Kingdom, to the exact location where Finn had received his golden sword. Michal decided to tag along so he could get a weapon as well. Besides, the bullets in his gun wouldn't last forever and he only had twelve left out of the fifteen he had come to Ooo with. In this village was an immortal blacksmith known as the Weapons' Master. He makes custom orders for every costumer so no two weapons he forges are the same and no one knows why, but the Weapons' Master doesn't charge anything for his works of art. He was happy to give Eli as well as Michal, swords that would fit their grip as well as their personality. Sometime later, the swords were completed. Michal was given a beautiful sword. The blade was as black and polished as obsidian. Instead of a straight blade, a portion near the tip was indented in. The cross guard curved up and out, and had a ruby embedded in the middle of it. The grip was wrapped in leather, and the pommel looking like a flattened bubble. When the Weapons' Master gave Eli his birthday present, he was very confused. He was given only two sword hilts, the cross guards in the shape of a crescent. But once he thought of something sharp, fire shot out of where the blades would be. The fire faded away and the blade appeared. It was a thin, curved piece of metal with four serrated teeth under the bladed edge.

Finn spent the next four days, teaching the two how to use their swords. Michal having more trouble with the lessons than Eli, because he had been trained in the way of the Marine.

On day fourteen, Eli decided to go with Finn and Jake on an adventure where they had found themselves surrounded by a goblin horde. And if not for Eli's extra help, they wouldn't have left that battle ground with just minor cuts and bruises.

Eventually Eli convinced his father to go on an adventure with the two heroes. During the process of that day Finn and Jake discovered that Michal was terrified of spiders, especially the giant talking ones with marriage problems.

For the next week everything was normal. Well, as normal as it gets it in this day and time. But no matter what happened during the day, the same thing would happen to Finn every night. He would have the same dream about the same cloud attacking him, Finn would occasionally land a few minor blows, but the beast would always win the fight. But before it could strike the final blow, Finn was saved by the same yellow light and woke up in his bed with the scratches he received while fighting it. He always wanted to tell anyone about the dreams he had been having, but whenever Finn tried to do so, something in the back of head told him not to. With each dream, the creature became less of a cloud and more of a solid mass, until Finn could describe it from memory.

The creature stood about seven feet tall, covered head to foot with nightmare black scales. The head of the creature was basically like a human skull, except there were small indents where the eyes and nose should be, two gazelle like horns where the ears would be, and its jawline was wide with many long and pointed teeth. Its shoulders, elbows, and knees were extended and spiked. It still had the same long claws as in the first dream, but its legs resembled that of Tyrannosaurus Rex. And somewhere during the twenty four dreams, the creature had acquired a nine foot long tail with small barbs near the tip.

Tonight, being the twenty fourth night fighting this thing. Finn was prepared. His dream began with him and Anna walking toward her house. "So you're sure you don't want any kind of weapon?" Finn said with his hands on the back of his head. "Finn, I wouldn't fire a gun, and I won't hold a sword." "It doesn't have to be a sword. You could get a staff, a bow and arrow, or a dagger at the least." She flashed him a smile after saying "Shut up, ya big lug."

The next thing Finn knew, they were in Anna's living room. Finn took Bemmo out of his pack and set him on the table in front of the couch. When the two sat down, Finn saw Michal sitting on the other side of the room, putting together the pieces of his freshly cleaned Glock. As Finn and Anna began playing, the Captain stepped out of the room after he placed the pistol on the mantle above the fireplace. All of a sudden Anna drops her controller and grabs her stomach. "I don't feel so good."

Black smoke began to pour out of Anna's mouth and surround her. "Finn, what's happening!" Anna said with her voice muffled. Finn did not answer, he had simply jumped off of the couch as he drew his sword. When he turned around the smoke had cleared and the beast stood where Anna was. It lunged at Finn, but he ducked under it and allowed it to slam itself into the wall. Finn rotated to face the creature and blocked every attack the beast made. Occasionally it would scratch Finn on an arm or a leg, but nothing that was too much for Finn to handle. After a month of fighting this thing, every new dream felt more like a sparring match and less like an ass kicking. As the creature swung from above, allowing Finn to dodge yet another attack and move behind the creature. He jammed the tip of his blade into the back of the creature and out of its chest. Not only was the attack unsuccessful, as the thing felt no pain. But it began to absorb the sword from both entry and exit wound. Finn tried to remove his sword, but it only sank deeper into the creature.

The tail of the creature wrapped itself around Finn's ankle, the barbs piercing his several layers of skin, yanked him up in the air and slammed him against the floor like a ragdoll. It repeated this again before throwing Finn at the wall above the fireplace. Finn grunted as he hit the wall, and brought pretty much everything on the mantle to the ground with him. He grabbed the left side of his chest in pain. "Okay, that was probably a rib." Finn blinked several times before he saw what was right in front of his face, Michal's gun. As Finn stood up slowly, he grabbed the gun. _'I've seen Michal use this, how hard could it be.'_ He thought to himself as the creature completed the absorbing of Finn's sword. Finn and the creature stared at each other, until the creature spoke. "This ends tonight, human." "You said that three days ago." Finn replied as he pointed the Glock at the creature, and pulled the trigger. But nothing happened. Since this was Finn's first time firing any kind of gun, he had no idea that the safety was on.

Finn pulled the trigger several more times and with few smacks to the back, got the same result. "You work for Michal, why not for me." The creature charged at the boy and drove one of its clawed hands deep into Finn's gut. Finn knew that it was all a dream, but that didn't stop the blinding pain that shot through him. The creature's other hand formed into jagged blade. The attack caused Finn's finger to flip the safety off.

"Any last words for my master, boy." The creature said as it raised its bladed hand above Finn's head. _'I got nothing else to lose'_. He placed a hand on the creature's arm that was inside of him. "Just three, Alvin's Hot Juicebox!" Finn screamed as he jammed the muzzle against the temple of the creature and pulled the trigger as many times as he could. The bullets cut through the skull of the creature like a knife goes through butter. As the creature fell to the ground, it took Finn with it. Finn rolled over after he fell on top of it, causing the creature to turn into a black fog and fade out of existence.

He placed both of his hands over the gaping hole in his abdomen that was bleeding very badly. Finn gave a small smile as he saw the yellow light that consumed everything that the boy saw. He expected to wake up in his bed, just like the other times it had happened. But became very confused when he opened his eyes and found himself lying on the grass of large field, looking up at a clear blue sky with small clouds moving overhead.

Out of the corner of his eye Finn saw someone kneeling over him, one arm above where the creature's hand was. Finn raised his head to get a better look at the person, and saw a knight in golden armor. The armor was scratched, dented, chipped, and scorched in several places. Despite the damage, the armor seemed to glisten in the sunlight. In the gaps between his armor, was what looked like a black jumpsuit lined with dark blue strings of light. His helmet had four horns stretched backwards, with a much smaller horns in between each of the larger ones. The only part of his face that was shown through his helmet was the knight's mouth and chin. The gauntlet above Finn looked eerily familiar. Attached to his waist were two objects. One was a thin sword in long sheath. The second was something that looked like a flattened 'V', one half of the object thicker than the other.

"A-am I dead?" Finn said softly. The knight let out a small laugh and pulled his hand away. "Not that far from, kid." Finn's eyes widened as he heard the knight's voice. It was the same voice that had spoken to him in the astral plain. "Who are you?" Finn said. "My name is Soturi, and I am a friend." Soturi stood up and extended his hand so he could help Finn up and he took the offer. Once Finn was on his feet, he could see that Soturi towered over him

"How do I know you're a friend?" Finn said with one eyebrow raised. "Well I never let my creature kill you, now did I?" Finn wrenched his hand away from Soturi's. "You sent that thing after me!" he yelled. "Only with the intention to see if you are worthy." Soturi replied in a calm voice. "Worthy of what?" Finn asked still heated about what this knight had just told him. "Worthy of my training, Finn. And you did remarkably well, considering the fact that you killed it in under a month and the last person who I tested took over a year."

"Who was the last guy?" Finn asked. Soturi raised his hand that was previously over Finn's gut. "You're not going to tell me that you haven't seen this on anyone else's hand." Finn thought for a moment. "No, I don't…" he stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the eye on the back of the hand staring back at him. "No way." Finn said, his jaw almost hitting the ground. Soturi only nodded. "I'm sure you have a ton of questions, but before I can answer one. I need to show you something that you'll never forget." He placed a hand on Finn's forehead, and made his eyes glow yellow. When the glow faded, Finn saw that he and Soturi were no longer in a field, but in the middle of a busy city street with buildings that touched the sky, covered with too many blinking screens to count. Walking the streets were humans, humans of all shapes and sizes. The expression on Finn's face was priceless. He was confused, but he had never felt this happy in his entire life. Sadly that happiness would soon be ripped away from him and replaced with horror.

"So why did you want to show me this?" Finn said as he walked over to a small girl with brown curls that was no more than four years of age, holding on to her mother's hand. Finn reached for the girl, but his hand passed through her, as if she were a ghost. He tried the same thing with the man to his right. Even though Finn's hand went through his chest numerous times, the man and everyone else was oblivious to him. "Well, this isn't what I wanted to show you." Soturi said with anguish in his voice. Finn turned to look the knight directly at his covered face. "If this isn't it, than what is?" he said, a big smile still plastered to the boy's face. It took everything Soturi had to look away from Finn, and point toward the sky. Finn followed his finger and something that was falling from the sky caught his eye. The happy faded away and was replaced with curiosity. It looked like a thick pencil with a large rectangular eraser. If it continued to fall, it would hit the ground about seven miles from where Finn and Soturi were standing. Finn watched the object fall as he heard several of the humans start to scream. He then saw everyone turn and run. He looked back at the pencil just in time for it to turn into a small supernova. Finn immediately shut his eyes and covered his face with his hands to stop the light from blinding him permanently.

A few minutes after the light was no more, he could finally see again. But Soturi was right, what he seeing was something he would not soon forget. Where there were once buildings that stood tall and proud now lie in heaps of smoldering rubble. The streets where the people walked were now covered in things that ranged from bits and pieces of buildings and cars, to the bits and pieces of the humans who walked them. The humans who survived the blast, were dazed, confused and badly injured. Finn saw the mother of the girl he had touched limp by with her daughter wrapped tightly in her arms. He only got a quick glance at the girls face, it was almost expressionless, with a large trail of blood running down it. Finn felt as if he was about to vomit. He looked up to the sky and more terror fell upon his face as he saw a gigantic mushroom cloud overhead.

Finn turned to Soturi for an explanation. He bowed his head and said. "Welcome to Times Square in New York City, July seventh, two thousand fifteen. Day one of the Mushroom War. But the devastation does not stop here." Soturi then snapped his fingers several times, each snap separated by at least ten seconds. Every snap showed a new city that lay in waste. Soturi told Finn the name of each location as it flashed in front of him. "Tokyo, Miami, Bangkok, Moscow, London, Iraq, Los Angeles, Beijing, Paris…" "Stop!" Finn screamed as he feel to his knees and his voice died down to a shuttering murmur. "Please stop." Behind the two was a giant heap of twisted metal that was the Eiffel Tower. Soturi walked up next to Finn. "I'm sorry for what I have shown you." He snapped his fingers once more and the two were back in the field where Finn had awoken. "But it had to be done." Finn looked at the knight with hurtful eyes. "For what you saw, was all my brother's doing. And he plans to do it once again" Soturi pulled Finn up onto his feet again. "Wait, the Mushroom War was a thousand years ago." Finn said and Soturi was quick to respond. "True, but where I come from, we had discovered the secret of prolonged life almost a millennia ago. Biologically I'm about thirty five years old, chronologically I'm two thousand five hundred and seventy six years old, I think." Finn's eyebrows were now raised. "That's impressive but, what about your brother compelled him to carry out something like that." "It's was something about revenge for what the humans did to him a long time ago. How they defaced him. But he was just caught in the crossfire of a human war called World War II, I think it was." Finn scratched his head before saying. "Okay, so who is your brother?" Soturi sighed. "I once knew him as Veli, a man whose heart was as pure as his mind was strong. A man of great honor, who made no enemies, but who only saw the good in any and every sentient being. However, I believe he goes by a name that you are all too familiar with." Soturi paused so he could gather his thoughts, but Finn wanting to know, made a gesture that told him to 'go on'. Soturi forced out his next words. "My brother, The Lich King."

"W-what! No, no that's impossible. I killed the Lich." "Yeah well so have I. After I drove a knife just like this one…" He grabbed half of the flattened 'V' and pulled it in half. Both halves regenerated as if nothing had happened. "…straight through his heart and through him down into a canyon, he played possum for about a year. I discovered that Veli was alive only after I learned of his plan to eradicate humanity and by then it was far too late for me to stop him. But I was able to thwart him from taking control of the planet before he imprisoned me in the astral plain and took me from…" Soturi stopped before he said something that he shouldn't. "And so I ask you, Finn the human, as one of the last members of your race. To help me bring my brother to justice for the crime, of genocide."

Finn was quiet, he knew Soturi was keeping something from him. "There's something else, isn't there." The knight clenched his fist and breathed in. "Yes, there is. You know that billions died because of my brother, but first to fall at his hands was our father." "But who did he take you from?" "That would be my wife Charlotte, and our unborn child." Soturi raised his hand so Finn could see his palm. From the small circle embedded into his palm came a blurred holographic image of a woman. But before the hologram could become clear, it was reduced to nothing by an explosion of sparks. "Damn." Soturi whispered as he re-clenched his fist. "So now you know I'm doing this mostly for revenge, I'll understand if you reject my teachings. But when my brother returns with an army. I know for a fact that he will come for you, the location where he was trapped in amber, and then he will move on the rest of your world." Finn rubbed his chin before saying. "So basically, you want to train me so I…" "We." Soturi interrupted. "…right, so we can stop your brother, The Lich, from taking over the world." "Correct." Soturi said nodding his head. "How long do you think it will take to train me?" Soturi thought at Finn's question. "Statistics say, about three years." "There's still one thing I don't understand Soturi." "And that being?" "When you first talked to me in that first dream you said and I quote 'rest now young hero, prepare yourself for the storm that is fast approaching', why did you say it like that?" Soturi couldn't help but smile. "Okay, so imagine you haven't talked to any to anyone for almost a thousand years, wouldn't you like to make the first thing you say to someone sound all cool and dramatic." Finn opened his mouth to protest, but then he realized he would probably do something like that, if given the chance. "Okay, one last question. When do I start training?"

**Soturi (Sow-tur-e) and Veli (Va-lee) are two words in Finnish, and I hope you at least smiled at the play on words. But Soturi is Finnish for warrior and if you think I used a word that means something evil for the Lich's real name, think again. Veli is Finnish for brother, and you'll find out why in future chapters.**

**The next three chapters will be based off of some AT episodes. And if any new episode that comes on that I can use, I will. **

**Oh and tell me, is it sad when a personal achievement is spelling statistics (Holy crap I did it again) without having Word say it's misspelled. **


	7. Eli's Little Monster

**Chapter 7 Eli's Little Monster**

Just as the soul was about to be sucked right from Jake's body, Finn struck the back of Hunson Abadeer's demonic head with his sword as a distraction so he could drag Jake away from his attacker. Finn was about to sling Jake over his shoulders and run. But the only thing that kept him from doing that was the black pus that began to erupt from the wound, like molten rock from a volcano. Some of it landed on the two adventurers. Once the pus was no longer erupting, a black mass slowly emerged from the wound. Finn didn't know what to make of it. "What the?" was the only words that left his mouth.

As more of the black mass came out of Abadeer, the more a face appeared, Marceline's face. "Marceline!" Finn and Jake said in both surprise and unison. The Vampire Queen managed to squeeze her arms and shoulders out of the wound. "I'm gonna close this portal! You're forbidden to come back to the Night'O Sphere!" Marceline hissed at her two friends. "But Marce', let us help you." Finn said as Marceline was being sucked back into the bulbous head. "It's too late. Stay away from me, FOREVER!" she said as she pulled the portal shut, leaving Finn and Jake floating seven feet in the air in their living room. Gravity kicked back in the second the portal was completely shut. Jake grunted as he landed on the hardwood floor. Finn would have done the same, but something broke his fall. But he didn't realize it because Finn's mind was focused on his friend who was neck deep in trouble. Finn looked around the room and when he saw Jake, he told him the first words that came to mind. "We have to go back. We have to save her." Jake stood up and said. "Alright, but I'm gonna take a shower first."

"Hey, before you do any of that. Would you please be so kind to get off of me?" Finn looked under him and found that the object that had broken his fall was Eli. "Oh, I'm sorry man." Finn said as he immediately stood up. "No it's cool, my dad and Anna sent me over here to find you 'cause we hadn't heard from you in almost a month. And well…" Eli stood up and placed his hands at the base of his spine and pushed "…found 'ya." He said sarcastically. Since Eli had gone on numerous adventures with Finn and Jake, his attire had changed slightly. All of his shirts had either been torn, burned or both, so he now mostly wore a shirt lined with leather and thin plates of metal. He also had customized a belt so that he could carry his two swords wherever he went, and he took a note from Finn's book and got himself a black drawstring bag. "Where were you guys anyway?" Eli asked. Jake spoke up before Finn could say anything. "We'll explain after my shower, thank you very much." Then the dog walked off so he could clean himself. Eli looked down at his friend hoping to get a reason for their disappearance. "I would tell you now, but it will make a ton more sense after we watch the videos on…" He stopped in mid-sentence and realized what Jake had hidden in the flaps of his fur, and ran after him, screaming. "Jake, don't take the shower yet! You've got the phone!"

Finn retrieved the camera phone and its charger and gave it to Beemo to charge it. Jake finished his shower eight minutes later. He came down stairs in a towel and bath cap, holding one of the bananas from the pile the two adventurers awoke in and sat next Finn and Eli on the floor, directly across from Beemo. "Yo Beemo, you done charging that phone or what?" The computer was forcing the charge as a person would force a turd. "Almost, finished." Beemo began to smoke as he completed the charge, making the phone beep. "Thanks Beemo." Jake grabbed the phone and turned to Finn. "Alright man, we're gonna figure this out right, now." Jake flipped open the phone and loaded the mysterious videos that it held. Eli looked over Jake's shoulder so he could see as well.

The first video started with Jake's face appearing on the small screen. "Yo yo, yo, check it! This is Jake on my camera phone." Jake zoomed in and out on face. "Wow, wow, wow! Yo Finn, say hi to my new camera phone." Finn came on to the screen. "What up camera phone?" Jake began to zoom in and out again as the two made ridiculous faces. They continued this even as a pale green light filled the room. Jake turned the phone to see a portal open against the wall. Marceline popped out of the portal, her hair in a big pony tail with two locks dangling in front of her ears. She wore a grey and red sweater with a red cat face in the middle of the chest and the two were happy to see her. Finn walked up to her while Jake stayed where he was so he could keep filming. "You guys wanna come party in the Night'O Sphere with me? I'm visiting with my Dad and it's crazy boring." "Wow Marceline, last time I saw your Dad, I sliced open his soul sack." Jake turned the angle of the camera down to his shuffling feet as he moved to the portal. "Oh no, he's totally chill now." "Okay, but I'm keeping an eye out for your old man, in case he pulls any…" Finn turned back to the camera, flipped his hands onto his face to make a mask and deepened his voice "…sneak attacks." Marceline let out a small laugh and said. "Don't be such a weeinedog." She looked at the dog holding his phone. "You coming Jake?" Jake gave his response as he brought the camera back to his face. "WOW, ya baby!"

While the second video was loading, Eli spoke up. "How come she didn't invite me to party in the _Night'O Sphere_." The second video started and it showed a balcony view that overlooked a burning city. "Alright, so, this is the Night'O Sphere, I guess." Jake tied to move his face in front of the camera, but only got about half of it in the frame. "It looks bana-nas. Marceline says they got tons of crazy ways down here."

Eli raised his eyebrows. "Oh, because the Night'O Sphere is hell. That makes sense."

The image on the screen was Jake's hand in the shape of a crab pincher that was close to the camera so that it looked like it was squashing Marceline's head. Finn and Marceline were playing instruments, Finn had a tambourine and Marceline had a banjo.

"There you are Marceline." The two stopped playing when they heard that voice. Jake zoomed out so the enlarged body of Hunson Abadeer. He turned to see Jake filming him and he gave the closest thing to a battle cry, making Jake scream in fear. "Oh, hello dog." Hunson raised his hand to greet the two visitors. "Hello Finn." Finn was an inch from attack mode. "Stay away from me old man." He said pointing at him and shaking the tambourine between his legs.

Jake found this amusing and let out a small laugh. "Nice one."

Hunson shrank down to normal size and tucked his swollen head back into his body and replaced it with his normal one, a creepy smile on it. "Enough Finn, come on there's no bad blood here. Come on, let's bury the hatchet." He quickly wrapped Finn up in an awkward hug. Well, awkward for Finn. "See how I'm not killing you." "Uh, Dad stop." Hunson put Finn under his arm like a newspaper. "Oh right, I don't want to embarrass my little girl." He set Finn down and walked closer to his daughter. "So young lady, have you thought about my offer." Instead of answering, Marceline grunted in anger and slung the banjo over her shoulder. "What offer Marceline's Dad?" Jake asked. Hunson was joyful to explain his offer. "I want Marceline to take over the Night'O Sphere. Finally join the family business." "Business?" Marceline said abruptly. "Dad, what do you even do?" He motioned Jake to look over to a window and Marceline went over to her father.

"Check it out sweetie…" Hunson put his arm around Marceline. "…see how chaotic it is out there?" A column of fire shot up like someone had placed a few hundred gallons of lighter fluid on it. "How everyone's confused and frustrated. The Night'O Sphere is sustained by chaos." Jake quickly turned the camera to Finn, who was jiggling his checks to and fro, the Jake tuned back to Marceline and Hunson. "Ahh, I just don't see myself doing this biz." Marceline said with a small smile. "Okay, but I know you'll come around eventually, or maybe you won't. I don't know, you're an independent woman." Hunson stretched his mouth wide open, showing his big sharp fangs. He roared and it caused both Finn and Jake to flinch, but they recovered when they realized he was yawning. "Well, I'm gonna take a nappy." Hunson said as he began to trot off, but he stopped after three steps. "Oh, I almost forgot…" He removed a purple amulet from his neck. As he took off the amulet, his black tuxedo went with it and was absorbed into the jewel. Leaving Hunson standing in a stained white under shirt and red and white boxers. "DAD!" Marceline screamed, she covered her face in pure embarrassment. "Whoop, ha ha. You should put this amulet on, it'll grant you whishes for ponies or for whatever kids like." Marceline's eyebrows went down in frustration. "Dad, I'm a thousand years old." "Ha, yes you are sweetie." Hunson ruffled Marceline's hair. "Daddy's little monster." Hunson walked off, leaving Marceline utterly embarrassed. She noticed her friends were staring. She put the amulet in her pocket and leaned back in the air. "Look, let's just play something, okay." "Okay." The two began to play again once Marceline began to sing.

_I know you just wanna give your little girl the world_

_But Daddy I'm not just your little girl_

_I've got my own life, I've got my own plan_

_I hope you understand and like the way that I am_

_Because I want your respect and I wanna be here_

_But I don't want to rule the Night'O Sphere_

Marceline exhaled and took out the amulet from her pocket. She pushed air through her lips and put the amulet on. "Whatever Dad." Once it was on, the amulet placed Marceline in a black tuxedo and transformed her head into something that looked almost exactly like Hunson's bulbous head. Horns, tentacles and all. Once she began to laugh evilly Finn drew his sword and told Jake to get the amulet. But Marceline hit Finn backwards and he hit Jake, hurting his camera phone and ending the video.

"Well, that explains how we got amnesiaed, but what about banana?" Jake said. "Hey man, there's another video." Finn said and pointed to the camera phone. Jake loaded the third video. It showed the guard of the Night'O Sphere's prison, dragging the unconscious bodies of Finn and Jake. He threw Jake in the cell first, right next to a big pile of bananas. "We got mad prison overcrowding here fellas." He threw Finn directly on the pile of bananas. "So I gotta put you in the cage with the stuff, sorry about that. But ya know, not really." The guard slammed the cell door and he suddenly got a case of indigestion, he grabbed two bars of the cell and began to force something out of both of his ears, a banana. All three looked at the unpeeled banana in Jake's hand, he threw it away in disgust before he took a bite out of it.

"Now that you guys know what happened to you, can we go to this Night'O Sphere and save her?" "Yeah, we'll get back using that one portal spell we know," Finn said as he ran over to the fridge and pulled out a carton of bug milk and chalk. Why they keep chalk in their fridge is anyone's guess. Finn drew a smiley face on the wall, threw the carton at the face and chanted "Malaso vobiscum et cum spiritum." The wood began to crack and the crack began to widen to show flames that gave the room an eerie glow. "Whoa dude, she told us never to come back." "Oh yeah!" Finn put his hands together so he could think and then an idea hit him.

Finn ran up stairs to his room, Jake not far behind him. Eli stayed at the portal to keep the flames from coming out and catching to the rest of the house on fire. Finn went to his dresser and pulled out his red pajamas. "Jake, can you turn into a gross demon?" Jake nodded, raised his arms and pointed his ears pointed his ears as the towel around his waist fell to the ground. Finn wasn't impressed. "Grosser." He said. Jake then turned himself into a grosser demon. With insect like legs, long pointed teeth, and cat like eyes. "What's your disguise?" Jake said in a deep, gravelly voice. Finn cut into something with scissors and turned around with paper plate mask. "Paper plate mask Yo." It received a "nice" from Jake.

The two of them rushed back downstairs to Eli who was ready to spring into action, in fact he went through the portal before Finn and Jake. The three of them landed at the door of the Night'O Sphere's throne room, filled to the brink with demons. At the far end Marceline could be seen, sitting on the blood mist cloud. "Who's next, who's next?" she roared. And a shy demon came forward. "Uh, me, my Lord Abadeer." "What do you desire cowering spec, pain, pleasure or, weird punishment?" Marceline asked. "Uh, pleasure." "No weird punishment!" Marceline screamed as she fired a beam of energy at the demon, causing it to start vomiting bananas. As it stumbled away, the next demon took its place. "And what do you desire, p p or wp?" Marceline asked the demon. "I, pain." Marceline shot another beam of energy and half of the demon's body disappeared. "Come on, come on next." "I'm just gonna go." Said one demon with an ant like head, as he walked out of line. "You sure dude, don't you abs?" the demon immediately turned around and said "Yeah, gimmie abs." Marceline shot a third beam at the demon's head, turning it into a six pack. Marceline laughed manically, causing almost every demon in the throne room to shake in fear.

"I think we just charge up there, and rip the amulet off her neck." "Sounds like a plan." Eli said as he took point. As the three ran they were stopped by a demon with a coffee cup and small yet thick mustache. "Hey! What are you guys doing. You can't run up to the front of the line. These good people have been waiting forever. Shame on all three of 'ya. Everybody shame them." The crowd of demons began to boo at Finn, Eli and Jake. "Boo sirs, I boo at what you're doing." The demon began to poke all three to the back of the line. "Step back, back. You will not cut the line again. You stay back here, and wait your turn like the rest of us." The demon then squeezed their abdomens with every word it said. "Under, stand, me! I'll be watching you." It said as it slid it way back into line, but was stopped by another demon. "Sorry dude, you got outta line, I…" "Dang it!" the demon with the coffee cup yelled and ran off.

Marceline noticed the commotion. One of her tentacles reached all the way through the crowd and grabbed Jake's arms. Before she could pull Jake up to her, Finn and Eli grabbed hold of Jake. Marceline brought them up to her eye level. "Who are you?" she asked in a menacing voice. All three started scream, the only thing that anyone could understand was that 'they were her friends, Finn Jake and Eli and not to kill them'. Marceline squinted at Eli, she was trying really hard to remember him. "E-Eli." Eli realized what she was trying to do and helped her. "Yeah that's right, Eli. The guy who helps you write songs when you can't think of anything. Eli, the guy who wanted to give you a present on my birthday. The guy who can't resist making a joke when even I know it's wrong. The guy who would leap head first into hell, if you were there and needed help. The guy…" Eli turned his head so if the real Marceline was seeing this, she wouldn't see him blush. "…the guy who's in love with the Queen of the Vampires. Marceline, I love you." Marceline's eyes widened and then she shrugged. Marceline raised them above her mouth that was wide open. But before she could drop them in, Jake formed his hand into a two pointed prong and stabbed her eyes. Marceline threw them back as she cried out in pain. Jake shifted his body into a hang glider and carried Finn and Eli back to the ground safely. But when they landed, they ducked and weaved to dodge Marceline's big feet. "Run!" Finn screamed, stating the obvious. The three of them made their way through a door way, down a hall, and stopped in a kitchen to recover. Eli gazed out of the small kitchen window and saw Marceline, who had returned to torturing the demons. He placed his hand on the window and whispered her name.

"Did you really think that was the best time to spill your guts, Eli?" Finn said sounding annoyed. Eli's nostrils fared with anger, but his face did not look away from the window. "If Anna was a fifty foot monster being controlled by a magic amulet, I'm sure you would've done the same thing, Finn!" Eli's face turned from anger to uncertainty. "That, by far, is the strangest sentence I have ever said in my entire life."

A small noise came from behind the three, and the awkward silence only amplifying it that much. Everyone turned to see Hunson Abadeer, holding a fifteen layered sandwich, and slowly picking up a bottle of mustard from the opened fridge. "What are you doing?" Finn asked. "Just grabbing a mid-night snack." Hunson answered as he shut the fridge door. "It's Marceline, that's her out there." Finn said, pointing at Marceline through the window."I know, isn't it fantastic."Hunson said. He placed his sandwich on the table and began to squeeze the mustard on it "Fantastic?!" Eli screamed. "That's your daughter, your flesh and blood." "But this is what I've always wanted. My girl, following in her Daddy's footsteps." "But, that's not what she wants." Finn said. "That's boulder dash baby. The wearer of the amulet is filled with chaotic evil. Which is how I grew up, so…" Hunson took a bite out of his completed sandwich. Eli, out of anger, removed one of his sword hilts from the straps and waited only for the blade to appear in a burst of flames to slice upwards at Hunson's sandwich, slicing a hole in his white undershirt. It sent the sandwich flying, pieces of the sandwich covering the floor cabinets, and even several places on the ceiling. "If you won't help her, I will." Eli said as he ran out of the kitchen and back to the throne room. The only thing stopping him was Jake's enlarged hand. "Eli stop, you can't just run up there. We need a plan." "Oh yeah, what do you have in mind." Finn looked around the room at all of the demons he could see and said "Well, maybe we can get these dudes to help us." "These guys won't help us, they're all compliance and shepal." Jake said as he saw the depressed expressions on the demons faces.

He began to beat box out of boredom and it gave Finn an idea. "Wait, that's it. Were gonna free style a political rap, to get these guys to rise outta their systemized demon apathy."Jake and Eli looked at each at each other and then back at Finn with very uncertain eyes. But since it was the only plan they had, they had no choice. Jake began to beet box again and Finn started his political rap. "Yeah, uh, political rap. Yo Yo demon apathy, Yo zapity. Get ready, government. Where you went. Yo, farmers market, ride bikes, get on it, G.O.D.'s and domes. Science. You heard!" The demons cheered as if they were just handed the key out of the Night'O Sphere. And as they started to chant 'freedom', Eli talked to Finn over the roar of the crowd. "I'll question your methods, but never your results."

Several demons picked up the three and carried them to Marceline. To try and stop them, she shot multiple lasers to keep back the demon horde. Once Finn and Eli reached the back of Marceline, they ripped the amulet off of her and she then turned into a giant pile of black slime. Out of the top the Marceline's back appeared, Eli pulled her out and held her close.

The demons started to devour the black slime like vultures feasting on the rotting flesh of an animal carcass. "Ugh, sick." Jake said to his two friends in his arms. Finn noticed that the portal on the ceiling was still open and said. "Jake, the tree house." "I'm too freaked out to move Finn, these demons are nibbling my legs." All three looked down and saw demons climbing up Jake's legs. Eli had seen this scenario in movies and video games all too often, and he knew what he had to do. "Jake, take Marce." Eli handed her over to Jake, who had grown a third arm to hold Marceline. "I'm going to hold off these demons so you can get Marceline out of this hell hole and make sure she's safe." "How are you gonna hold off all of those demons." Jake asked. Eli frowned and eyed the amulet in Finn's hands. "I got an idea, you're just probably not gonna like it." Eli ripped the amulet from Finn's grasp and jumped off of Jake's arm. As Eli pulled the amulet around his head, he heard Finn scream. "You're right, I don't like it!"

As Eli hit the ground, he multiplied six times in size as he was transformed into a bulbous headed monster with a dark suit, looking much different than Hunson and Marceline when they wore the amulet. But before he was completely filled with chaotic evil, Eli grabbed Jake and stuffed him, Finn and Marceline through the portal. After that, Eli completely lost it. He started to attack the demons closest to him, and scaring the rest out of the throne room.

Finn and Jake laid Marceline on the floor, where she began to regain consciousness. "Hey guys." they heard from the portal. All three looked into the portal and saw Eli staring at them with eyes without pupils. "No one, leaves the Night'O Sphere!" Eli stretched one of his tentacles through the portal that filled most of the room. Jake wrapped Marceline up and Finn stood in front of Jake to try and protect their friend. Throughout all of the chaos, no one had noticed Hunson come into the throne room. He knew a mortal had his amulet around their neck and he would never let something like that rule the Night'O Sphere. So he ripped the amulet off of Eli and put it back on himself before Eli wasn't but an inch from reaching Finn, Jake and Marceline.

When the loud noise rang through everyone's ears and when they opened their eyes, they saw Eli hit the floor. "Marceline." Hunson said, making Marceline to look from Eli and through the portal at her father. "Uh, I wonder what happened to him. Kids these days, am I right." "Dude, seriously." Jake said with one eye half closed. "Dad you, tricked me." Marceline said sounding hurt. Even though Hunson was about forty feet away, Marceline cold still see his wicked smile. "Dad that sucks!" "I know, I'm sorry. But I thought you'd want to… wanna make your old man and take over the Night'O Sphere." "Yeah I want you to be proud, I want you to be proud of me." "No I didn't mean, baby of course I'm proud of you." "Dad." "And your friends, they're all right. Anyone who's brave enough to destroy my sandwich and then put on the amulet, is ok in my book." "Okay, okay, I gotta go Dad." Marceline said before she closed the portal, eliminating the red glow from the room. "Woof, that was a nightmare."

"So, you're alright, then." Eli said as he lay on the floor, twitching ever so slightly. Marceline looked down at him and smiled. "Eli, let me tell you something. I couldn't see or hear much of anything, but I could see and hear you." Eli's eyes widened and his cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. Marceline shot a glance at Jake, because she knew someone like him would now where she was leading and he did. Jake grabbed Finn and pulled him into the other room to give the two some privacy. "And I'm not going to lie to you Eli, I feel the same way." "R-really, that's great." Eli said with the biggest smile he could manage, twitching less and less. That made what Marceline had to tell him all the more painful. "But, even if there's any sparks between us, it could never happen." Eli's smile quickly faded and he looked up at the ceiling as he sighed. "It's because you're a vampire, isn't it?" Marceline nodded. "Your mortal and I'm not. I've made a lot of friends throughout my existence, if they weren't immortal they would just die and turn to dust. Just like Cody, Lewis, Scott, Griffon, Samantha, Zartan, Wendy, Booboo, Gregory, and eventually Finn, Jake, even Bonnie too." Eli sat up so he could look straight into Marceline's eyes "Then turn me into a vampire, make me immortal." "Eli, I could never do something like that. You're part of an endangered species, why do you think I eat the color red instead of blood." "Then, can we at least try, for this mortals sake." Marceline smiled and gave Eli his answer as she leaned in for a kiss. It took Eli by surprise, but after a second he relaxed, closed his eyes and began to kiss back.

Once they pulled apart for air, Marceline was the first to speak. "so you're dating a vampire. And out of curiosity goes, I have to know what's going through your mind right now." Eli shook his head with small frown. "Only that if my sister makes a Twilight reference, I will take pleasure in hitting her up side her head."


	8. Kings of Mars

**Chapter 8 Kings of Mars**

A deer walked through a forest, looking for nothing in particular, just walking. It walked and walked like all deer do. When the deer had reached a forgotten railroad, it was oblivious to the being wrapped in a blanket the same color as the dirt, his yellow hat sticking out like a sore thumb. The person in the blanket saw the deer and whistled to get its attention. "Hey friend." He said in a gravelly voice. "I'm a gypsy child like you, running wild and crazy." He laughed at what he thought was funny. And then he saw something falling from the sky. He stood up so he could get a better look. "Wow, a falling star." Then something hit the man. 'Wait, _you can't see falling stars during the day, and they weren't red either. I could tell what it is.'_ "But it's too far though." The man threw off his blanket to reveal his bright green skin and torn yellow cloths, and turned around quickly just as he transformed the deer into a telescope. "You're welcome."

As the man focused in on the falling star, he realized it was something he did not want to see, something that he hadn't seen in two hundred years. "Oh Glob." He whispered to himself. What he saw were the four super beings that are worshipped here on Ooo, Glob, Grod, Grob, and Gob. The diamond-like head with held their faces on four sides of the diamond spun on a pivot. Their crimson colored body had the shape of space shuttle that had been stripped of its wings and hollowed out. "He is here somewhere my brothers, I can feel him. Glob can you see Magic Man on the sensor?" "Yes Glob, our little brother is close." Glob said looking at Magic Man as a red dot on a round screen "Hey, flip me." Gob said and his brothers did so. "I'm gonna activate the thingy that drains his magic juice." Gob said as he pushed a button on the sensor. Magic Man dropped the deer telescope as he suddenly felt drained. He raised his hand so that he could see what the three had done to him. "My juice, not flowing right. Dream on honey, you can't catch this." Magic Man ran down the railway and tried to teleport away, but failed as he tasted the topsoil only several feet from where he teleported. The Magic Man immediately got back up and continued to run. "I think I see him." "Yes I see him as well."

Finn, Jake, and Michal walked the line of the rail road, carrying severed robotic limbs. Jake stopped the two humans behind him and shushed them as well. "I wasn't…" "You here that?" Jake said, interrupting Finn. Everyone listened and heard nothing, no birds chirping, no insects making any kind of noise, nothing but complete and utter silence. "It was like totally silent for a whole second." Jake said. Finn and Michal agreed and continued to enjoy the silence. "Sometimes we get so wrapped up battling stuff, we forget the…" Jake was cut short as the Magic Man collided in with him, Finn and Michal. Jake was knocked unconscious while Michal somehow landed on top of Finn. Magic Man saw Jake lying on the ground and took advantage of the golden opportunity he was given. Michal raised his head just in time to see the Magic Man turn Jake into a copy of himself and vise versa. "What the?" Michal said, thinking he was hallucinating. Magic Man brought his finger to his lips as he picked up a rock and chucked it at Michal's head, knocking him out. Magic Man quickly ran beside the two humans and pretended to be dead to the world. Glob, Grod, Grob and Gob appeared in a very bright light that looked pinkish white. "Arise!" the three said in unison as they raised a hand and Jake, making him come too. "Magic Man, you've caused us nothing but turmoil and chaos for us on Mars. We thought banishing you to this world would make you see the light of our utopian super society. Now tell us what have you learned in these past two hundred years." Jake looked around him and asked the three one simple question. "Are you guys, talking to me?" "You know you made life on Mars a nightmare." Michal opened his eyes and looked up at Jake and the god-like being. "Now we must return you to Mars, where vengeance awaits thee." Michal didn't know how to respond, but he did know that was Jake. "Wait that's not…!" he stopped in midsentence when he was blinded by the pinkish white light and the three flew up and out of sight. Michal stood up and watched as if what he was watching a space shuttle take off.

He turned around when he heard a gasp of air. Finn was holding his chest, taking long slow breaths. With Michal on top of him it had made it a little difficult to breath. "What happened?" Finn asked. And it took Michal several more seconds to take all of it in. "Uh, okay a guy, with green skin, wearing nothing but torn yellow cloths, knocked us all out and turned himself into Jake and Jake, into, well." Michal looked back up to the sky. Finn knew exactly what the Captain was talking about when he saw Jake laying next to him. "Magic Man, get up!" Finn said beating the Magic Man twice. He only opened one eye. "Did it work? Is he gone?" "Where's Jake?!" "I think they took him to, Mars." Michal said. "Well you're going to take me there so I can save him." Finn said getting up close and personal with the Magic Man. "Oh I'm sorry, but I can't. You see, the transfer drained me of almost all of my magic. I can probably barely float, so I just have to wait till they kill your friend. See ya." Magic Man said as he skipped away laughing. Finn stopped him by jumping on his back, wrapping both his arms and legs around him. "What do you mean, kill?" "There're gonna put him on trial for my crimes, ain't nobody gonna pardon these crimes on my head. Not even the King of Mars. And once he's dead my magic juice will return to my body, flowing through me like moonlight on the ghost dance." Finn squeezed the Magic Man very hard out of anger, hard enough to push out some of his remaining juice. "I wish I could help, except I don't." "You suck." "Come on let's go to my house, come on let's go to my house." The Magic Man said almost singing. He struggled to lift himself and Finn into the air. He only went about fifteen feet up, so it was easy for Michal to follow.

* * *

Magic Man carried Finn deep into the forest. He fell to the ground with a grunt as he stopped near a very old house, multiple vehicles surround the house, two cars, a school bus, a trailer, and a speed boat. Michal came through the brush to see Finn and Magic Man walk into the house and he quickly followed. The house was old on the outside but it looked even older on the inside. Dirt was piled high with garbage and plants scattered in it. Near the center of the room a tree had actually taken root and sprouted through the first and second floor. "Well, I bet there's something here that can help me save Jake." "There is…" Magic Man said as he collapsed on to a pile of dirt. "…but you'll never make it work." "What, where is it?!" "I don't know, have you seen my trash palace?" Magic Man said, pulling the purple wallpaper off of the wall. "Yeah what's the deal with that? This place is wrecked." Finn took one step where he shouldn't, he made a sound of disgust. "What am I stepping in?" "That's where I blow my nose all day." "That is just sick, man." Michal said, watching Finn remove his foot from the big pile of snot. "Yes, welcome to my tower of light. Everyone is welcome to share this magic kingdom…" Magic Man pointed out all of the things in his 'magic kingdom'. "…squirrels…" Really a dead rat that had attracted several flies. "…black mold, worms, poison ivy, and tiny manticore." Finn and Michal looked down at a tiny manticore, a lion with bat wings and a scorpion tail. "Help me you cowards." It said through the glass. Finn started to argue with the Magic Man for the location of his special object, while Michal was drawn to a picture frame on the wall. The picture was of the Magic Man embracing a woman that had the same color skin as the Magic Man, but she had long brown curls. When Michal saw the expression on Magic Man's face, he realized that he had seen the same look some where before. Michal retrieved the wallet from his pocket, opened it, and sure enough Michal's face bared the same expression as he held his now dead wife. "Seriously Magic Man, what is you deal?" Finn asked. "You tell me." Finn was about to talk but Michal started to speak his own mind before Finn got a single word out. "You were once a happy man with a woman who loved you the same way you loved her. But one day you lost that woman and now your nothing but a shell of the man you used to be." Finn and Magic Man stared at Michal with raised eyebrows. Neither one of them had expected him to say anything like that. Finn stood in silence, just to hear what would happen next. "How would you know that?" Michal walked toward the Magic Man, wallet in hand. "Because I have felt the same pain you have." Michal said as he handed the wallet to Magic Man and stared at the picture, the memory of a girl drifted back into his head. "Well if you won't help us, we're just gonna keep digging through this stuff until I find what you're talking about." Finn said as he and Michal began to dig through the dirt, while Magic Man continued to stare at the picture. "It's down stairs." He said abruptly. Finn and Michal turned to the strange man "What?" "My special thing." Magic Man walked passed in between the two humans as he returned Michal's wallet to him and then to the wall and jammed his hand through a gap in the wood.

He brought pain to himself as he adjusted the hidden lever that he had placed in the wall and opened a doorway into the basement of the house. He acted as if nothing had happened to his hand, when he said in a very cheerful mood. "Tada, come on. Follow me." He jumped through the doorway and dove into the loose dirt. The two humans following gazed around the room. The Magic Man popped up out of the dirt and said. "That's the thing." Magic Man said as he pointed to an object that was half buried and looked similar to an eighteen sided die. The only real difference was the flat top with two handles that reached up to about three feet. "My special thing. A Martian transporter." "You mean this thing can take someone to Mars." Michal said touching the side of the transporter. "Yeah, my 'brothers' gave it to me when they banished me to Earth. They thought I'd learn love and use it to go back home." Finn stepped onto the transporter. "How do I do it?" "You put your hands on those thingies and think stuff about people." Finn grabbed the handles and tried to think. "But it's broken, hasn't worked in two hundred years." Magic Man said looking down in depression at the dirt. "But, it has to work. For Jake." Finn said, bowing his head. The Martian transporter began to glow red and rise out of the dirt. It shocked everyone in the room, especially Magic Man. "Finn get off of there!" Michal yelled as he put his hand on Finn's ankle. And the second he did, the red light turned purple and shot the two through the ceiling, the roof, and the planet's atmosphere. Finn looked behind him and saw Michal still holding onto his ankle, and the pink energy that surrounded and protected both of them from the harsh element of space. But most importantly was the planet they had just left. Finn could easily see the enormous crater that was formed during the Mushroom War, which covered almost a third of the planet. As the two were forced past space debris, they could see a red dot that was the planet of Mars grew bigger and bigger. Eventually two large domes came into view and as the two continued moving they landed on a transporter that looked like a prototype transporter. Finn and Michal glanced across the giant city around them, with oddly shaped buildings. The two ignored the stone arch and the engraved in it above their heads. The language the markings were unknown to then but it translated to 'Here is where our king left and here is where we shall wait for his return' Finn and Michal jumped off the transporter and ran a path way that led to a coliseum that had been converted into a courtroom for the occasion of a trial.

Glob began the trial by addressing Martian citizens and their King, Abraham Lincoln. If he was standing he would have been almost twelve feet tall. He raised his hand to signal the official start of the trial he raised his hand as he was swearing in on a bible. "Today, the second most notorious criminal in all of Martian history stands before us. Magic Man." Glob said.

Finn and Michal reached the gate of the coliseum to find it locked. Through the gaps in the gate Finn could see Jake. "Stop!" He screamed as loud as he could, but no one had heard him. With no alternative entrance Finn began to scale the wall so he could get in, but again he was stopped this time by a force field. "Oh man." Finn beat the barrier three times. "Force field." Several seconds of gazing downward into the arena, Michal climbed up next to Finn. "What now, hero?" Michal asked. Finn looked down at the three people in the arena and with no other idea, he started to climb the force field and Michal followed.

"Turn on the dark." Glob said and the coliseum went partly dark and a projector was turned on. "Okay, so we don't have footage of these crimes, but Grod is a pretty good drawer, so… Plague of shadows." Grod drew an image of the crimes that had been committed as Glob spoke. "Magic Man brought our shadows to life. They attacked us and ravaged Mars." Glob shot a quick glance at the drawing his brother created and complimented him. "Very impressive Grod." "Thanks brother." Grod said as he washed the projector screen. "To the plague of the oneness, as we gather to hold hands and sing our community song. Magic Man cast an evil spell that made our arms grow together, much suffering ensued. And what about that one time when he turned all the water into air and we all got so thirsty, we drank it. And when we drank it, we went bald. Many of us did not recover and to this day, hide our loss behind groovy head gear. Dark off, please." The coliseum was lit up like normal, as ordered by Glob. The King of Mars had heard the crimes, and he had already decided the verdict of the accused, guilty. And now he had to give the Magic Man a choice of punishment. "Magic Man, it pains me to see you like this. I remember when you were really cool, before you spent that night on Olympus Mons with Margles. What happened, Magic? What made you go crazy? If you could have just learned to care about living things again, you could have come back whenever you wanted." Jake stood at the feet of the King, still confused as hell. "Well you guys are missing some important details. I'm not Magic Man, I'm Jake the dog! Listen!" Jake got down on all fours and barked like a dog. If he had his regular body it would look normal, but since he looked like the Magic Man to a 'T', it just looked weird. "You sad, sad Magic Man. Instead you bummed around Ooo. Acting like a jerk for two hundred years." "Yeah that's true, except I'm not Magic Man!" Lincoln stood up and spoke very loudly. "Now! Ready the wand of dispersement." Glob raised a gold wand with what looked like a butterfly on the end. On the butterfly were two triangles, the infinity symbol, and a pair of reptile eyes with blue pupils. "Ready." All four G's said in unison. "Space dome, open." Lincoln said, opening the force field above, like Moses parting the Red Sea. Finn and Michal didn't expect this and fell through to the arena below. "Magic Man, I give you two chooses. One, is total annihilation. The wand will touch you and your soul will meet with Death. The second, is that we use the power of the wand to convert your body into living stardust. Where your consciousness will be jettisoned into the infinite cosmos, and an epic journey filled with wonder and discovery." Jake had never had to make a choice of how he would die. But if he had to pick, then so be it. "Whoa, I mean that second one sounds pretty cool, I mean like yeah I'm way into that. Except, I would really miss my best friend. His name is Finn. And I think it would really mess him up, if I wasn't around." Lincoln was surprised at Jake's comment. "Wait. Did you say that you would miss someone, and that someone would miss you?" "Yeah that's me you dishrags!" Finn yelled as he hurled a chair he had stolen from an onlooker. The chair hit Glob, causing the wand to fly from Glob's hand and hit Jake on the head. Purple rings of energy surrounded and rippled outward as Jake turned back into his normal self and fell to the ground, dead.

"Jake, no." Finn said as he knelt next to the cadaver of his brother and held it tight. Michal walked up behind and placed a hand on Finn's shoulder, and as he did so he saw a reflection of himself in Finn. Finn closed his eyes and wept softly for several seconds. Then he suddenly stood up with his face expressionless, his eyes still shut. When they opened, Finn's eyes glowed yellow. He gazed around the coliseum with a smile on his face. Finn let out a small laugh. "Memories." Finn said with two voices in his throat, one was his own and the other was Soturi's. "Finn, are you felling alright?" Michal asked, taking one step back. Finn looked at the Captain and said. "Finn's not here at the moment, please leave a message after the beep." He then turned to Lincoln and Glob, Gob, Grob, and Grod, still smiling. "I have never seen anyone mourn that quickly." Lincoln said. "Well, I don't know the dog…" Finn stepped over Jake as he continued to talk. "…but I do know you five." Finn said, pointing at Lincoln and the four G's. "Do you really?" Lincoln said with one eyebrow raised. "Well of course, you're Abraham Lincoln, you were born in Hodgenville Kentucky, you were the sixteenth president of the United States and won a civil war, and if I recall I was sitting right next to you when Booth shoot you in the back of the head." Lincoln leaned forward in the chair in surprise. "Soturi." The entire coliseum was silent so that they could hear every word that was spoken. However when they heard the name of their true King, they cheered like the soccer fans of a winning team. They silenced themselves as Finn's hand rose. Glob ran and scooped up his long lost friend for a bear hug. "Soturi, we'd thought you had perished on Earth." "Technically Glo, Gr, Go, Gro… ugh, I really should have given you four different faces when I made you. But technically, I'm still in the astral plain. I will reclaim the throne when Veli is no longer in existence." "Well I wish you could take back the throne now. Because after a thousand years of governing these people, I'm just about sick of it Lincoln said, smiling at his old friend. "Then you will be happy to hear that I'm training this boy, to prepare him for what we all know is coming."

"Excuse me, but would someone please explain what you all are talking about." Michal said. Glob let Finn down so he could walk over and talk to the Captain. "What we speak of is the prophecy that speaks of a single motion of the hand from a dark prince that will set into motion, the war of suns. The prince who set that motion will be punished not once, but three times in death. Brought to him twice by a hero, one of the four sole survivors. This hero shall have meet and been raised by a gold dog. Who will lead the Hero, the King, and the Solider to a flying mountain, where they will help decide the fate of two worlds." "By God t-that's, that's messed up." Soturi nodded. "You could probably figure that the Hero and the dog are Finn and Jake. But I would ask if you would forget you ever heard any of that." "Yeah, like I'm going to just forget something like that." "Oh, then let me help you with that." Soturi said as his placed Finn's palm on Michal's forehead and forced his eyelids to droop. "This memory will reveal itself when the time is right, but until then live life to the fullest, Marine."

Finn led Michal back to where both had been when Soturi possessed Finn and he knelt back down next to Jake's dead body, taking hold of him. "Abraham, you know what to do and I will see you in good time, old friend." Finn bowed his head back and the yellow glow in his eyes disappeared. Then his head then shot back up to face the King of Mars with a livid demeanor. "This wouldn't have globed if you had just listened to my bro. You screwed up King of Mars, the wisest, most honest super being of all time just put an innocent dog to death." "You're right, Finn the human. My judgment was less than the standard by which I judge my peers, of which I have only one. I will retrieve your friend from the 37th dead world." Lincoln sat in his chair and transported his consciousness into the 37th dead world.

Lincoln walked across a grey desert, riddled with random rocks that varied in sizes and the burnt bones of fallen angles. In his arms, was the curled up body of Jake. Lincoln ignored the bones that crunched under his feet as he saw Death just a few feet in front of him. "Death." "King of Mars, what's your business." "I need this one back." Lincoln said, holding Jake out for Death to see. "What will you give me for him?" Lincoln held up a dirty brown coin with his face on one side of it. Death laughed at his offer. "Not this time your majesty." "In that case I offer my immortality." "Deal." Death said as he shook his head for the even trade.

Jake's soul was returned to his body and his eyes opened slowly. "Hey, I'm alive!"Jake said, jumping up. "Yay! King of Mars saved you!" "Yes, but at what cost." Glob said. Finn, Michal and Jake looked at the King. Lincoln had been turned to stone. "Huh, the Lincoln Memorial." Michal said. "Should we go get Magic Man?" Finn asked. "No, I lost a friend today. I cannot lose a brother as well." As glob talked he didn't notice the three behind him making I run for it. "Hey where did they go?"

Finn, Jake, and Michal made their way back to the Martian transporter very quickly. Jake had his arms wrapped around Finn's shoulders and Michal had a tight grip on Finn's elbow. "Eat my skids!" Finn yelled, striking a superman pose. The transporter shined blue and shot the three into space and back to Ooo, more precisely being the Magic Man's rundown house. Magic Man was holding the picture Michal had been looking at earlier. "Oh Margles." He whispered just before Finn and his two friends smashed through the ceiling and hit Magic Man in the face. The three landed next to the unconscious body of the Magic Man and the tiny manticore. Finn quickly grabbed the bottle it was trapped in and slammed on the floor. "Go, get outta' here tiny manticore." Before the manticore flew off in to the distance, he told Finn he didn't need his pity help. "What?" Finn said, very confused. The manticore talked to himself as he flew. "I am the true coward. Hiding from sincere expressions like a vampire in the nude, how hides from the light. Thank you, brave hero. I was freed from bottle jail, but my new prison is shame. MY NEW PRISON IS SHAME!" Unbeknownst to the manticore, Jake had stretched his ear out to listen to him. "What's he saying?" Michal asked. Jake brought his ear back to its normal shape. "He said 'my new prison is shame."


	9. Lady, Pebbles, Michal, and Eli

**(It's my birthday, but you all are getting a present.**** I promised I'd have this uploaded by today, and I'm a man of my word****.) **

**Chapter 9 Lady, Peebles, Michal, and Eli**

A blizzard roared across the frozen barren wasteland known as the Ice Kingdom. Through the blizzard two bodies walked slowly through it. Both were heavily clothed with winter jackets, one was dark brown and the other hot pink. The person in the brown had a sword in its sheath on his back. The person in brown held the hand of the person in pink, a duffle bag slung over the person's shoulder. They made their way toward a small metal igloo with weather instruments on top of it. As the two entered the igloo, the person in pink pressed a button on a panel next to the entrance, and then the blizzard and cold was cut off people inside. The two removed their hoods and Michal's and Princess Bubblegum's faces appeared. A heater gave off a faint red glow as it warmed the area. On the other side of the igloo, Lady Rainicorn, Jake's Girlfriend, was curled up in a coil, sobbing and mumbling something in Korean. Eli stood next to her, wearing a similar jacket that his father was wearing and tried to make her feel at ease by stroking her mane. "Oh good you're ba…" Lady yelled out more Korean that stopped Eli from talking. "I'm sorry Lady, we haven't found them yet. The blizzard is messing with my GPS's signal. The only logical thing to do is wait for the whole thing to blow over and continue the search then." "It's just a little hard to believe that Finn and Jake have been captured by the Ice King and stayed like that for almost three weeks." Michal said, sitting down against the wall of the igloo. PB laid the duffle bag on the ground. "Yeah, I know the Ice King isn't usually a serious of a threat but whatever he's got, we can handle it. Because we've both brain and brawn on our side." "Are you calling me and my dad idiots, 'cause I passed Algebra 1 with a B." "No, no I was just saying that, that… Ugh never mind." PB said as she crossed her arms and sat down.

Lady had kept her worried face throughout their little argument, she tried to make something of herself but couldn't do such a thing, no matter how hard she tried. Bubblegum noticed it right away. "What's wrong Lady?" She started to speak with glazed eyes, only the princess understood her and the two humans just felt awkward. "It's alright Lady, Jake knows you love him." The unicorn and rainbow hybrid spoke once more and the princess told her to try and relax. Lady talked for over a whole minute, making several grieving expressions on PB's face. Once she fell silent, so did the rest of the igloo. "Okay without hurting any feelings, either translate or tell her to stop talking." Michal said. The princess slowly turned her head at the Captain with a small frown. "It's a girl thing." "Well that explains everything." Eli mumbled under his breath.

An awkward silence in the igloo. All of them listening to the screaming of the blizzard outside. With nothing else to do, PB tried to start a conversation with the two humans. But every attempt ended the same way, a long awkward silence.

"What, what was the world like before the Mushroom War?" Eli and Michal glanced over at each other and shrugged. Eli took several seconds to think before going first. "Before the Mushroom War, the world was filled with humans, most of them were either psychopaths, assholes, or just plain idiots." "Now there were some that came along that defined a generation like, Alexander the Great, Christopher Columbus, Ulysses S. Grant, Albert Einstein, Charlie Sheen." Michal said, his head resting on the metal wall. "That's not exactly answering anything. You see, I don't really know that much from the before the war, except for sciency stuff." "So, you don't know anything from like, movies or history, or anything like that." PB shook her at Eli's sentence, and a wicked smile crawled onto his face only after a single thought. "Dad, I've got an evil idea, join in when you get the idea."

Eli stood up, cleared his throat and began to speak once again in different accent with every sentence. "With great power, comes great responsibility. Say 'ello, to my little friend. Run Forrest, Run! Oh my God, they killed Kenney." Michal got the idea and stood up next to his son. "You bastards!" The two went back and forth with famous quote from their time, which made PB more annoyed with every single one. "One ring to rule them all. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Fish are friends not food. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. It's a flesh wound. Luke, I am your father. D'oh. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Lions, tigers, and Bears. Oh my. Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'. Silence! I kil' you! A house divided cannot stand." "Would you please stop that? I told you I don't know anything about before the Mushroom War." Eli's wicked smile returned. "Oh we know, that's what makes it fun." "Well I'm asking you to please stop. Because it's making me angry, and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry." Eli and Michal looked at each other and busted into laughter. "I'm pretty, sure you're the wrong, color to be saying that, princess." Michal said in between his laughs. "Okay okay, but just one more. It's from one of my favorite movies." The princess sighed and nodded. Michal sat back down and waited for Eli to do the same. He mealy took center stage, unzipped his jacket half way, grabbed both sides and spoke in a gravelly voice.

"Home, where I learned the truth about despair, as will you. There's a reason why this prison is the worst hell on earth... Hope. Every man who has ventured here over the centuries has looked up to the light and imagined climbing to freedom. So easy... So simple... And like shipwrecked men turning to sea water from uncontrollable thirst, many have died trying. I learned here that there can be no true despair without hope. So, as I terrorize Gotham, I will feed its people hope to poison their souls. I will let them believe they can survive so that you can watch them clamoring over each other to stay in the sun. You can watch me torture an entire city and when you have truly understood the depth of your failure, we will fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny... We will destroy Gotham and then, when it is done and Gotham is ashes, then you have my permission to die" Eli finished and sat back down with a satisfied smile on his face. Lady and the princess stared at him as if he was an oddity, and in a way he was.

"Okay then. Um, is there anything you miss from way back when." "Out of all the things I've lost, I'm pretty sure I miss my mind the most." Michal said wittingly. "No, I mean like friends or family." She turned to Eli first for his response. He didn't give the idea much thought. "I did have friends, but there was only one guy that was my best friend, Devin. We would make these…" he stopped in mid-sentence when he had a small epiphany. "Huh, if Devin was still alive today, I would owe him two hundred bucks." Michal rolled his eyes. "What was the crazy bet this time?" "Well we made this bet because we thought it would never happen. I said zombie apocalypse, but that poor bastard just had to be right." The silence came back and hung in the air for some time.

"So Eli." The princess said. "I here you're going out with Marceline." "Uh, yeah. I kinda spilled my guts to her in the Night'O Sphere. But the whole thing is sort of unstable at the moment, because of the mortality thing. Do you have a prince or king in your life, princess?" "No, the closest thing I've to anything like that is when Finn had a crush on me, but I assume he's moved on." PB looked at Michal. "What about you Michal?" "I had the same problem with what Eli's got now, mortality and all." He said looking down at the slowly melting snow on the floor. The princess knew she had crossed a line and decided to change the subject, again.

"Um, what was the purpose of those, dog tags? That is what they're called, right?" Michal reached into his jacket and pulled out his dog tags. "Yeah that's right. Dog tags were issued standard to everyone who was in the U.S. military, whether Marine, Navy S.E.A.L., or Army. Their purpose is that a person can identify whoever has been killed in battle if their body was too mangled to recognize." "I'm a little sorry I asked now." She said with a look of surprise. "Don't be, they're not even mine." "Well whose are they." PB said, ignoring Eli who was motioning her to stop talking. Michal did not talk, he just stared at the name on one of the tags. He sighed as he removed the dog tags from his neck and tossed them at the princess. She picked them up slowly and examined the two small metal plates. They had the same thing on both, a name. _Bates, Andrew, L._"My parents always wanted kids, but no matter how hard they tried, nothing. And after a while they gave up and just adopted an infant child, ironically when my mom was pregnant with me. And so I was raised alongside Andrew, we did almost everything together. From asking the same girl to prom, to signing up at the Marines recruiting office. He was to me like what Finn is to Jake, closer than close gets. In fact some of the things I brought to Ooo, were those dog tags that was and the flag that lied over Andrew's coffin. The only real difference between us was that he was more into the arts, such as classic plays. But how a seven year old boy found poetry in Texas is beyond me. He would use any and every chance to quote some famous play. I kinda' hated it most of the time. But after he was killed, it was the thing I missed the most. A perfect example is when some of the guys from our platoon started taking about our dying words. Of course we were making them into jokes like, 'What landmines', or 'Sure I'll give you a hug random Arabian guy', my dying words were 'Tell my family, I left the millions of dollars in the, the…'" Michal simulated death by tilting his head and sticking out his tongue. He straightened is head back up with the same smile that he had when he started talking, but it slowly disappeared as he remembered Andrew. "But Andrew said something that whipped all the smiles off of our faces and made person think long and hard, something that I'll remember 'til the day I die." Princess Bubblegum was too curious to let him start again. Even Lady stopped worrying for several minutes a listen to the Captain. "W-what did he say?" Michal swallowed the air in his throat and spoke in a quiet voice. "On this dreadful date, a marine has met his fate. If for me you shed a tear of sorrow, it only means you live to fight tomorrow. But I will never truly die, for I have lived, fought and died by the words Semper Fi."

"Semper Fi?" PB asked, tilting her head. "It's Latin, for always faithful." Eli said. "And to me, it seems fitting since he died about three weeks later. But his death hurt more than my wife's, mainly because I didn't watch her die" PB's and Lady's eyes widened, Eli wasn't even looking at his father. Michal looked into the two's eyes and knew what they were thinking. "You really want to know?" The princess and Lady nodded very slowly, Michal looked down at the floor as he continued his story. "Me, Andrew, and three other Marines were heading to a small town in a Jeep just a few miles west of the base for a routine check. And when we were only half a mile away from the town, the jeep ran over an I.E.D., killing the driver and injuring the rest of us, and there are still small fragments of metal lodged into my bone." "I.E.D?" "The I.E.D. or improvised explosive device, was a trap laid by the terrorists. They dragged our bodies into underground caves, where they treated our wounds only so they could reopen them." "What?" "Torture, that's what. For any information they could get on the enemy, us. We were there for I think seven days and on maybe the fifth day those ragheads noticed the same names on our tags and, and…" Michal choked on his words as the gruesome memory returned. He clenched his fist just before he slammed it against the metal wall. Eli immediately stood up to comfort his father, who was breathing heavily. "Dad, calm down. Remember what Doctor Green told you to do." Doctor Green, his old therapist had taught Michal multiple ways to calm himself down when thoughts of his brother crept back into his mind. Michal placed his fingers around his temple, closed his eyes, and slowed his breath. Bubblegum glanced at Michal as he laid himself down. "Anything else you'd like to know, princess?" "Um, no. I thought we could wait out this storm, but now I think it would be better if we sleep it out." "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Eli said nudging his father's foot. Michal turned off the music and placed the iPod back in the metal box. "We're going to go to sleep, Dad. Maybe you should do the same." "I was going to do that anyway." Michal said as he returned the box to Eli. Everyone used their hoods as pillows as they laid down, except for Lady who remained curled up. Princess Bubblegum noticed that she still had Andrew's dog tags, she had been holding them so hard that an imprint of the tag was now on her hand. She got up and walked over to Michal to place the dog tags around his head. He opened his eyes when the tags hit his chest. Michal gave a nod and a smile to her as she walked back to her side of the igloo.

It didn't take long for everyone to fall asleep. Eli and the princess slept peacefully, Lady tightened in worry for Jake. Michal was tossing and turning like a worm. His dream was not a pleasant one.

* * *

Michal had one arm chained to the stone wall of a cave. The other felt numb as it was stained with blood. A rat scurried along the floor to the small dish filled with the crap the Taliban called food. He looked across the room and saw two other Marines in the same position as him. Weakened from blood loss. At the entrance of the room were two insurgents in turbans speaking to each other in Arabic, pointing at him and person next to him. Michal's head and eyes began to drop, and then a voice woke him. "Come on Michal, fall asleep in front of them, you might not wake up." Michal looked to his right and saw Andrew chained to the wall as well. In the same attire he was in, the standard uniform handed out to every soldier, minus the helmet. He was a big boned man with a long face, chestnut colored hair on top of his head, and a big bloody scab on his right cheek. "Mamma didn't raise no quitters, now did she?" Andrew said just to keep him awake. "No, but she sure as hell didn't raise no Chuck Norris either." Michal's' remark made Andrew laugh and in turn made Michal laugh too. A terrorist welding one of the M-16's that was stolen from the Marines entered the room and told the two to stop laughing or he'd shoot the both of them in the feet. Michal and Andrew took a few seconds to head the man seriousness and stopped. Andrew leaned toward Michal so he could whisper to his brother. "Hell is empty and all the devils are here." "Andrew, please. If we die tonight, I don't want the last thing I hear from you being off of a stupid play." "But, if we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss. And if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor." "I said stop. I don't want things like that going through my head right now." Michal screamed quietly. "Then want do you want, Michal." "I'm surprised you have to ask me that. All I want is to get back to Lindsey and Eli. I want to hold my wife's hand as she's giving birth to our second kid. Which should happen within the week." He said on the verge of tears. "But you just got to go your own way, with your God damn quotes." Michal said through his teeth. Andrew could tell he was angry and slowly turned his head away. Michal let out a sigh at his mistake and said. "Andrew I'm sorry. I'm just going a little crazy in this cave." "That's an understatement." Andrew said turning his head back to Michal and gave him a wink. "If you two were smart, you'd shut the hell up." Said one of the marines on the other side of the room. "If anything, our talking is the only thing keeping us sane. Are you with me on that Andrew?" "No, I will be the pattern of all patience. I will say nothing." "Un-freaking believable." Michal said under his breath.

The next ten minutes were in complete silence, well other than the sound of the rat eating the scraps in the small dish on the floor. The terrorist that told the two to stop laughing had returned into the room to look at the prisoner's identifications. He started with the two marines on the other side of the room. Once he had written their last names on a pad of paper, he made his way over to Michal. And as he reached for the dog tags around his neck, Michal acted on instinct and gripped his hand, but in his weakened state, it didn't accomplish anything. The terrorist pulled his hand away from his grasp at came back as a fist. The fist made contact and slammed his head against the stone wall. Michal fell to one side, his chained arm was the only thing keeping him up. The terrorist reached for his tags again, this time with no resistance. He wrote down his name and walked over to look at Andrew's tags, he immediately looked back at the paper and then back at Michal. He wrote the name on the pad and ran out of the room. He returned again with three other men in turbans. They unchained Andrew and drug him in front of Michal by two feet. Michal had a bad feeling about this. "One last time devil dog, tell us everything we would like to know." One of the terrorist said as he pulled out a knife. "We told you, we don't know anything." "Well perhaps this will change your mind." The terrorists placed the knife under Andrew's ear. But before he applied pressure, Michal fastened his eyelids shut. And after several seconds, he heard four sets of footsteps. One were his own.

He opened his eyes and went from being a captive in a cave, about to watch the person whom he had spent most of his life with be butchered like a pig. To being at the foot of a floating mountain carved into a castle that looked as menacing a Transylvanian castle. Around him stood three people, on his right were Finn and Jake. Finn was taller than when he last saw him and he had a gauntlet on his right hand with a white eye on the back of the hand. On his left was a golden knight. His armor shined in the pale light, and he recognized the sword at his waist, a katana. Behind him a gigantic glass dome and in it a city that seemed to be on fire in several places, the smoke rising up and filling the dome. An above ground tunnel connected the city and the mountain castle. They all walked down the tunnel and Michal looked outside the tunnel. All he saw was a red baron wasteland. In other words, the planet Mars. The next thing Michal new, he was standing next to Finn in what appeared the throne room. Atop a pillar at the end of the throne room was a man standing on a pillar who was glowing white around the abdomen and disappearing. Michal barely heard him say something before he raised his voice to ear piercing levels. "NOT BY A HUMAN!" Balls of green fire formed in his hands and he shot them both directly at Finn. Michal jumped in front of him just in time. The hot, searing pain shot through him as he fell to his knees. As his whole body hit the ground, he heard Finn's voice call out his Michal had remembered what he heard on Mars, he would have realized that he had just witnessed the prophecy unfold before his eyes.

Michal's eyelids closed and everything was black and when he opened them again, and now he was lying on a hospital bed in the Candy Kingdom. Anna was clinging to Finn for any kind of comfort, bawling to no content. Finn looked down at him, a single tear rolling down his cheek. Princess Bubblegum was on the other side of the bed, looking away from Michal with one hand on the side of side of the bed. In the door way of the hospital stood Eli, his left eye was covered by a bloody bandage. He stood at attention and saluted his father. He saw that his lip was quivering. "At ease, Son." Michal said. And his words acted as a starting gun, because once Eli heard it he ran, he ran as fast as he possibly could. Michal rested his head on the pillow and slowly closed his eyes. His lips started to move, but couldn't tell what he was saying. He saw a bright white filled his closed eyes and the screeching of a brown and gold owl awoke Michal from his dream. He shot up, breathing heavily. Michal checked to see if he still had all of his limbs. _'All there, good.'_ The princess and Eli were still sound asleep, Lady however was awakened by the Captain. He couldn't understand what she was saying to him, but he just figured that a translation was something around the lines of "Are you alright?" "Uh, yeah I-I'm fine. It was just a, a bad dream." Michal laid back down and tied to go back to sleep, but that didn't come easy. "At least one memory is out." He whispered to himself as he tried to return to sleep.

* * *

The blizzard had disappeared as morning light shone through the small window on the igloo. Eli was the first to awake. He stretched his arms and legs with a yawn. Eli's yawn actually woke up Lady and Princess Bubblegum. "Morning." Eli said. Lady greeted him in Korean, while the princess just gave a dignified grunt. "Not a morning person, are you?" "Not really." PB glanced over at Michal, who was still asleep. "Wake him up while I make some coffee." She said. Eli nodded and walked toward his Dad. "Come on Dad, wake up." He said, nudging Michal with his foot. The Captain only turned on his side. "I'm serious Dad, wake up." He said slightly louder, but still nothing. Eli stepped back and said. "Alright Dad, you forced me to do this." Eli hollered in a deep voice, making both Lady and the princess to jump out of their skins. "MARINE, ARE SLEEPING ON THE JOB!" Michal shot up on instinct and saluted. "SIR, NO S…" he stopped in mid-sentence when he realized he was tricked. "Eli, I told you to never do that to me." "Well it was either that, or I pour hot coffee on you." "Which by the way, is ready." The princess said, pouring coffee into four cups and passing them out. As everyone drank their coffee, the princess pulled out a GPS from her jacket and turned it on. "The secret tracking device located in Finn's ear lets me know exactly where they are. And it says that Finn and Jake are in, that black ice cave over there." She said, pointing to a small black mountain that had an opening in the top. "Why is there a tracking device in Finn's ear?" Michal said, drinking the last of his coffee. "For the rare occasion just as this one."

"I've had hours to think of every possible situation and am well prepared." "Yeah, but it's the unexpected that always bites you in the ass." Eli said. "Say if we're attacked by beings made of pure ice water. What then?" The princess unzipped her duffle bag. "Then I'll pull out my electro-gun." The Princess pulled out a purple cross bow, but instead of a bow it had a glass sphere filled with small lightning bolts inside it. "What if we need to blow through a wall or two." Michal said. "Then I'll use my ballblamburblabur." She pulled out something that looked like a child's toy, a black painted grenade launcher. But instead of grenades, it shot out green balls that went in through an 'L' shaped tube that held the ammunition. "I'm sorry, a what? Why would you name something like that? In my time, there were names of weapons that weren't silly. Like an R.P.G, a 50 cal., an A.K. 47, M-16…" Michal unzipped his jacket and withdrew his pistol. "…Glock. All of 'em were well know and used." "Personally, I don't care about your big guns. All I really want to do is get Finn and Jake out of the Ice Kingdom and back to safety." Bubblegum said getting up close to the Captain. "Well, what are we waiting for." Eli said right before he chugged the rest of his coffee. "Let's go." Everyone agreed with a nod.

The princess, Eli, and Michal climbed onto Lady's back and she flew off into the opening on top of the black mountain. As she flew down deeper into the opening, it turned into more of a cave. "Ugh, I can't get a signal in this chamber." PB said looking at her GPS. "Let's see if they show up on my heart monitor." She pulled back her jacket sleeve to reveal a small box with a screen, wrapped around her wrist. She pressed a button on the side to activate the heart monitor. A single heart beat showed up on the screen. The princess hit the monitor a few times and found everyone's heartbeat, including Finn and Jake's. "There they are, through that sphincter." She said, pointing at something that looked very similar to a heart valve.

Lady flew through it with ease and all four were now in a very large room, filled with pipes that connected with one side of the room to the other. They crisscrossed in random lines. The only light in the room were the several beams that shone through the ceiling. As Lady maneuvered around the poles, a hand quickly came out of the shadows, slid across Eli's back and then returned to the shadows. Eli never liked the dark, more of what was in the dark. So this sudden contact made him jump out of his skin. "What happened?" Michal asked. "Something just rubbed my back." Eli's words made Lady stop in mid-air. They all listened for something, anything that would make a noise. A second hand came out and touched the Princess's cheek. She flinched at the cold touch just like Eli did. Tired of all the darkness, Eli grabbed one of his sword hilts and raised it above his head. He made the flame come out of the end of the hilt, and also made it stop half way up the sword to double it as a torch. The flame lit up the area around them by about fifteen feet and it show that the poles were actually tentacles with a hand attached to the end. There were too many to count and they were all heading straight for them. "Oh crap." Michal said, drawing his sword. The hands came at all angles which left no room for escape, that and they grabbed Lady's legs. Michal and Eli began to swing their blades to and fro for any damage the could bring to the tentacles. The princess reached into her duffle bag and pulled out her grenade launcher with the weird name. "Ballblamburblabur." She said before pulling the trigger and sent a green ball flying through the air. It made contact with the wall of the room and created an explosion that lit up the entire place for a split second. The explosion mad the hands retract, but they came back immediately. "These things won't stop anytime soon." Eli said.

After two minutes of this, they were able to escape by having Lady phase through a wall. During the battle, Bubblegum had lost her ballblamburblabur and her duffle bag. "Well, I take bake what I said about that thing of yours being silly, princess. It made that whole thing feel easier." Michal said. "Speak for yourself." Eli said. The princess and Michal looked back at him and saw that he still had his legs wrapped around Lady's back, but he was upside down and still had both of his swords in hand. The sight made the princess snicker. They were in a hallway that was illuminated by florescent lights and looked as if it were covered in red foam. The princess looked around. "Well, let's keep going. There's no turning back now." Lady began to glide down the hallway with Eli still upside down, until she stopped when she heard a voice echoing from an air duct. "This is total bonk, you copier. You're only in love with her because I'm in love with her." "Ice King." Lady whispered loud enough for her three companions to hear. "I've been playin' this game a lot longer than you pal. I've been working my moves, smooth talking her, showing her magic tricks. Don't ignore me, come back." The princess checked her heart monitor to see where they were. "I'm picking up three heart signatures, the Ice King must be talking to Finn and Jake."

Lady lifted herself up to the duct and Michal opened the hatch so they could enter the ducts. Being inside the ducts, strangely made them seem a lot bigger. Eli managed to get himself right side up before he was inside the duct. They came to a fork in the ducts and the princess told Lady to go right. Just as she rounded the coroner a noise came from the left duct, they all looked and a giant tongue came directly at them. "What is wrong with this guy!" Eli yelled as Lady dodged the tongue flew down the right duct. The further she went in, the small the duct got. Small enough to the point to where Michal had to get off of Lady's back and crawl along side of the duct.

When lady reached an opening covered in the red foam, she looked down it uncertainly. And then she slowly put her head through the opening as Michal returned to the top of Lady's back. Lady spoke Korean and Bubblegum translated for the two humans. "She said it's clear." Lady carried the princess, Michal, and Eli into a room filled with the same red foam. Michal had to let go of her so he could get back on her further back and fit through the opening. Lady stopped in the center of the room, about seven feet in the air. The walls of the room were covered in enormous eyelids that concealed equally sized eyeballs. That opened up and stared at the four. As the eyes started to glow a purplish-pink and hum, Eli knew exactly what they were doing. He wanted to scream out 'Move now', but he didn't. And right before laser beams shot out from the eyes, Eli grabbed to princess and flung her and himself off of Lady, to the ground below. Michal would have done the same, if he wasn't stuck with awe. Every laser made contact with either Lady or Michal. All of the eyes closed as the two fell to the ground. The princess crawled away from Eli and towards her dear friend, and Eli got up and ran to his father's side. "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead." Eli said, checking Michal's pulse. "Oh thank God, Anna would have killed me." Eli strained himself to pick his father up and over his shoulder. He looked at the princess who had done the same with Lady. A door had opened and Eli and the Princess carried the unconscious bodies through a darkened hallway, only to be illuminated by the princess's heart monitor every few seconds.

"What are you playing at Ice King?" PB said, looking at the three heart signatures on her monitor. Eli was several steps behind her as she led the way. "Thee heart signatures, getting closer." Right after she said that hit something with her foot, almost making her trip. The princess used her monitor as a flashlight to see what she hit and found it to be the Ice King. His chest opened, with blue cords coming out of the hole in his chest and stretched outward in various directions. The Ice King actually turned his head and greeted the princess. Bubblegum screamed and dropped the monitor. It light up the area around the Ice King. "Princess, what a pleasant surprise." Came from the shadows and into the light came a bold face in the shape of a heart. "Ricardio." "Yes, it is I. did you find my dungeons stimulating." "Where's Finn and Jake?" Eli said setting Michal down on the ground. "Oh, don't worry. They're here both here. A boy…" Ricardio tossed Finn into the light and then Jake. "…and a dog." Both had buckets tied around their necks with the word zanoits written across them. "They've been poisoned with zanoits." "What do you see in those two, princess. You need more mature companions."

"You see princess, I though all I wanted was your heart, but I was wrong. I was unfair to you. I want the full package." Ricarido's face rose up several feet. Astonishing Eli and the princess. "Princess, I am a man now." Ricarido stepped into the light with his new arms and legs that were connected to his heart shaped body with exposed veins that looked like rope. A paper face taped to what was supposed to be the base of neck. The two stepped backward in disgust and fear. "I made myself for you this body for you, princess. Synthesized from the Ice King's living tissue. His bone's broken and reassembled, and it helped when I wasn't the one doing all of the breaking." "I guess you can thank my Dad for that." The Ice King couldn't help but be himself and try and flirt with the princess. "It hurt, oh boy. How 'bout a hug, come on I need it." "Silence, Simon." Ricarido said as he stepped on the on the Ice King's chest. "All for you, princess." Ricardio then took Lady off of the PB's shoulders and actually tied her in a knot. "Now marvel at these powerful, articulate limbs." "STOP IT!" she screamed. "Attached with supple and delicate sinuses." He then tossed Lady aside as if she were a piece of trash, and in Ricardio's eyes she was. "Lady!" PB yelled as she ran to her side, but was cut off buy Ricardio who cornered her with one arm against the wall. "Now my darling, we can finally be united as man and wife." Eli could see where this was leading to, so he slowly reached down and unzipped Michal's jacket. Once halfway unzipped he reached in, pulled out his father's Glock and stuffed it into his pocket.

The princess looked carefully at Ricardio, for any kind of weak spot. And his sinuses' had a big target on them. She quickly thought of a plan. "Okay Ricardio, I'll do it. I'll be you wife. If you can beat me in hand to hand combat." She said, removing her jacket and standing in a fighting pose. "Oh my, how valcariant. Princess, you are absolute…" Ricardio was interrupted by the princess, who had punched him in the face. Before the fight escalated quickly, Eli slid in between the two. "Before you to duke it out, I'd like to say something to Ricardio. Over the past twenty-four hours, she…" Eli pointed at the princess while still facing Ricardio. "…has insulted me, my family, and my culture. And to top it off, she brought me and my Dad into this dungeon where my Dad, has probably been turned into a vegetable. Family is one of the few things I have left in this world. So if you would please step down, so that I may take your place in this fight. I really want to hit her, my new king." "What's your name, boy?" "Eli." "Well then Eli, do as you wish, just do not damage her face. I want our wedding pictures to be very adequate." "Yes, my king." He said, turning to face Bubblegum. "Eli, what are you doing? Have you lost your mind?" "Oh, trust me. I know exactly what I'm doing." Eli gave a wink toward her and made sure Ricardio couldn't see it. Eli made the first swing. The princess dodged it by less than an inch. She returned a punch and it passed by Eli's head. Eli quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her down as he brought up his knee to gut. Eli's knee made contact and when he let go of the princess's wrist, she fell to the ground writhing in pain.

Ricardio came up beside Eli and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Very good Eli. And when you called me king, does that mean you would serve under me, as my knight." "Why of course. There is no one greater than anyone who can outsmart the princess of the Candy Kingdom, and I can see the future you can create and I can only think of one word that can describe it." "Oh, and what would that be?" Eli pulled out his father's Glock out of his pocket, pointed it at Ricardio's left sinuses. "Bazinga!" Eli squeezed the trigger and the bullet tore through most of the sinuses, leaving his left arm dangling by two of them. Eli then took hold of the hot muzzle and swung the handle of the gun into Ricardio's face, sending him backwards.

Eli extended his hand for the princess. "Sorry, but I had to make that look convincing." He said as he helped PB up to her feet. "Y-you tricked me." Ricardio said getting back on his feet. "Oh, you're just figuring this out." Eli said sarcastically. "You're going to rue the day you were ever born." Ricardio sent his one good had toward either of them, not caring which on he hit. Eli jumped out of the way to grab his left hand and tear off his bad arm. He then used Ricardio's arm to get him of balanced and back on the ground. The princess grabbed Ricardio's leg and lifted it into the air. She placed her boot on his face before she said. "You think we're intellectual equals, you're nothing compared to me! And this body you designed is selbatory garbage! You see I know a thing or two about building a body out of bio-mass, and you don't leave your heart exposed!" "I just wanted to impress you." Ricardio said sheepishly. "You didn't."

"Princess, I think I can take to from here." Eli said. And as angry as PB was, she stepped aside to go help Lady. "Now, Ricardio. I'll give you two chooses. One, I could use every last bullet in this gun and put them in you. Or, I could just let you walk out of here with what shreds of dignity you have left. Pick your punishment." "I think I'll walk." He said. "Well, start walking!" Ricardio slowly stood up and started to walk away. "Oh, and I almost forgot." Eli said before Ricardio got too far away. He turned back around just in time to see Eli place a bullet in both of his knee caps. Ricardio screamed as fell he to the ground, unable to use his legs. "Keep going." Eli said in a harsh voice and he did. He dragged himself along until he was out of sight and mind. "I'm actually still surprised you tricked Ricardio like that." The princess said as she finished untying Lady. "Well some of it was the truth. Family and friends are pretty much all we got left."

* * *

Two days had passed since then. Finn and Jake lay in separate hospital beds, surrounded by curtains. The princess checked the two's vitals as she walked around the room. As she came into Finn's curtained room, his eyes slowly slid open. "Princess." He said quietly. Finn realized he wasn't dreaming and shot up. "Princess, Ricardio is back and in the…!" The princes stopped Finn's yelling with her hand over his mouth. She hushed him as she pointed to the end of Finn's bed. Anna was there with her head resting on her crossed arms, asleep. "Let's go outside and talk, Finn." He nodded as the princess took her hand away from his lips. Finn walked behind the princess out of the room, but stopped and looked back at Anna. With a smile on his face, Finn picked Anna up slowly placed her on the bed. After that Finn walked out to talk to the princess. "The Ricardio problem has been taken care of. It took me and Eli two days to drag you all back here on Lady's back. And another day to make an antidote for you and Jake. But only fifteen minutes to make the Ice King a new heart. And Anna has been here ever since we got back." Out of a second curtained room Jake walked out. "Well, looked who decided to wake up from their beauty sleep." Eli said loudly, standing in the doorway. "Eli, please." Michal pulled back the curtain on his bed with one hand, and held his head with the other. "I'm having the biggest head ache of my life, could you please be quiet." "Sorry Dad."

Seeing Michal made the princess remember her friend who was hurt. She walked over to Lady's bed and pull back the curtain to ask if she was all right. She asked if Jake was up in Korean, and PB nodded. Lady lifted part of her body out of the bed to see for herself. "Oh Lady, I should have never put you in danger. I saw on the heart monitor, I didn't know." Lady told her friend a short Korean speech and left he side to see Jake. "Lady, boy am I happy to see you." A single tear fell down Lady's face as she spoke. Jake smile fell down with her tear, as Lady spoke the words that send chills down any man's back. "Jake, I-I'm pregnant!" the room was at a dead silence, you could have even heard a blink. Eli couldn't help be himself and whisper out two words, but in the silence it sounded like a scream. "Plot twist."

**(That's why this episode blew my mind when I saw it.)**


	10. Love Hurts Like Hell

**(I don't care what the show did with the Lich King, Billy, and The Enciridion. Even though that episode left me very confused I'm still going my way with this thing.)**

**Chapter 10 Love hurts like hell**

Finn sat on the top of a boulder, meditating. He had been there for hours. The only movement he made was the slow motions of Finn's hands that resembled tai-chi. The reason for this is that Finn was doing better in Soturi's training, better than the king of Mars had predicted. But there are just some things that you can't do in the astral plain. He moved his hands as if he were pushing air up from his legs, though his chest and into both of his arms. Finn had been doing that same thing over and over again. Sitting at the bottom of the boulder was Eli, he had just finished sharpening his both of his swords with a stone he had found on the ground. Eli turned the stone around so he could see that a fourth of the stone had been worn away in a curved line. He plucked a blade of grass and dropped it above the sharpened edge of his sword and it was sliced in two as it touched the blade. He looked up at Finn, who was still doing his tai-chi. Eli let out a sigh, his boredom reached to no end. He saw a stick on the ground, picked it up, and made a tiny spear out of it. Once he was done with that stick, he drove the unsharpened end into the soft ground next to the boulder. Eli repeated this until there was a small protective fence surrounding the boulder. Which is quite a feat, since the boulder is about eighteen feet in diameter. He even made several watch towers that were connected to the fence every six feet, that was a foot and a half long. As Eli stared at his completed work, he realized that it was about five o'clock, based on the position of the sun.

"Finn, remind me why you brought me out here to watch you do your yoga." Finn opened his eyes and looked down at Eli. "Um. Because, it's to… Actually, I really can't tell you why." "Why not." Eli said, crossing his arms. "Uh, to quote my 'friend', fear can spread just as fast as rumor." Eli merely grunted and rolled his eyes. "How much longer do you think you're gonna be? 'Cause I'm planning to take Marceline out tonight." "We're only going to be here for another thirty minutes, tops. And don't worry dude, it's nowhere near time for dusk."

"Eli, could you do me a favor?" "Sure, what is it." Eli mumbled as he turned his head away. "Could you go and find me a black rock about the size of my fist." Eli nodded and walked off in to the distance to find a black rock. _'Good, he's gone. I hope you were right Soturi.'_ Finn thought as he put his finger tips together and spread them apart. Finn closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to concentrate, very hard. Eventually a small sphere of white light, no bigger than a dime, appeared in between his hands. A hum coming from the sphere could easily be heard. And as it slowly grew in size, Finn separated his hands until the sphere of light was about the size of a soda can. He then pushed the sphere into the boulder he was sitting on. As the deeper the sphere went, the more Finn lost his concentration, his hands slipped and the sphere disappeared. Finn wiped the sweat from his brow and looked down into the perfect circle that was five inches deep. He placed a finger on the side of the hole, and it felt cool to the touch. "Whoa." He said quietly.

"Here's your rock." Finn looked up just in time to see the black rock hit him in the fore head. "Ow!" Finn said as he placed a hand on the impacted area. "You didn't have to throw that, Eli." "You didn't have to drag me out here, Finn." Eli said, a small smile fastened onto his face.

Finn slid his way down the boulder to talk face to face with Eli. "I just need you to do one more thing, and then you can leave. Okay." Eli let out a sigh. "You promise." Finn nodded as he looked off in the distance and pointed to a large tree that stood about fifty meters away. "Go stand in front of that tree, with your arms stretched out and your legs spread apart. And make sure your eyes are closed. Got it?" Eli said nothing. He just walked toward the tree. It took him thirty seconds to reach the tree and get in position. "Like this!" Eli said loud enough for Finn to hear him. "Perfect, and remember to keep your eyes closed!" Finn said as he pulled out three daggers from his pack and held all three in between his palms. "Oh, I really hope this works." Finn said as he closed his eyes and let go of the daggers. But instead of falling, the daggers just stayed there as if a ghost was now holding them. Five months of Soturi's training had been worth it's while. Finn pushed his hands forward and the daggers flew in the path Finn had chosen, straight at Eli.

Eli stood patiently at the tree, waiting for something to happen. It piped his curiosity when he heard a loud whistling in the air. He opened his eyes and saw the three daggers just before they planted themselves in the tree at the exact same time. "What the…!" Eli didn't breathe another word. Everything else was scared out of him, almost like his breakfast just now. And it was a good thing Eli didn't move. Because the first dagger landed just an inch from the left side of his neck, the second landed directly under his right armpit, and the third dagger was right under his crotch. With shaking hands, Eli pulled the two daggers out and let them fall to the ground. He slowly looked down at the dagger that was between his two legs. It took five seconds for Eli to realize that the blade hadn't even made contact and then he removed that from the tree as well.

Eli walked back to Finn with his hands still shaking. When he reached Finn, Eli was ready to wrap his hands around Finn's throat. But that's not what he had in mind. He spoke in an almost inaudible voice. "Finn, I don't know how you got three knives to come at me at the exact same time, and I don't want to know. But, for the love of God, NEVER DO IT AGAIN!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "I-I'm sorry Eli, I…" "Sorry, SORRY! YOU ALMOST PUT A PERSONAL ENGRAVEMENT ON THE FAMILY JEWELS, AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS SORRY!" "Well what do you want me to…?"

Finn stopped in mid-sentence when a large shadow passed over him and Eli. The two followed the shadow and it was attached to a giant that stood in between two trolls, each holding a strange looking weapon. And standing on the giant's right shoulder were three goblins, each of them had different battle scars. "Eli and Finn the Human!" One of the goblins yelled. "Six months ago, on this date! The two of you took part in the slaughter of our brothers! And now we shall avenge the fallen by placing parts of your bodies on each of their graves!" Finn and Eli were standing there, speechless. The giant and the two trolls were standing on a hill thirty feet away, but that wasn't far enough. "Oh shit." Finn said as he drew his sword. Eli did the same after he said. "You can say that again." Finn didn't hear the sarcasm in his voice and took him seriously. "Oh shit." He said again, this time striking a fighting pose.

* * *

Finn staggered along as he carried Eli to the closest safe place, Eli's house. The victory against their attackers did not come easy, and not without a hell of a beating. Finn limped a little faster when he saw the building inside of the small hill. Eli looked up and saw that the sun was beginning to set. "Marceline's gonna' be mad." Eventually the two made it to the front door. Eli opened the door with the one arm that wasn't over Finn, but his hand ached as he turned the knob and pushed the door open. As they moved into the house, Eli called out. "Anna, get stuff out of the freezer." Anna's head appeared in the doorway that leads into the kitchen. "What happened to you two?" "Long story short sis', we almost got our asses handed to us on a golden platter." Eli said as Finn placed him down on the couch and stepped back. Anna came back into the room with as many frozen packages as she could carry. She almost dumped them on Eli, who let out a sigh of relief. "I'm just gonna go home." Finn said. "Why? I mean it wouldn't hurt to stay a while, would it?" Anna said, not looking directly at Finn. "Actually, it might. Because I'm pretty sure Eli is still pissed at what I did, and I would like to get back into my own bed before my legs give out." "Oh, okay then. I guess." Anna said as she turned back to the pile of frozen's on her brother. Finn felt sad, but he couldn't tell if it was his heart hurting, or a rib. He turned around and took two short steps to the door before he began to lean forward. "Too late." He said as he landed face first on the floor with a grunt. Anna managed to help Finn onto the sofa, next to Eli. "I think there's some more stuff in the freezer, I'll be right back." Anna returned to the kitchen to look for more frozen products.

"Finn, how long are you going to keep her going like this?" Eli whispered. "What do you mean?" Finn asked. "You're the definition of clueless. My sister really likes you, man." Finn leaned forward in surprise but recoiled back in pain. "Okay, you remember that whole Ricardio business a few weeks back, when you and Jake were poisoned with, zanoits I think they were called." Finn nodded. "Well before Anna came into the room where we put you all, I had the princess play a trick on her. Just for a laugh ya' know. I made her tell Anna that you were in a coma, and that you might never wake up. You want to know what she did." Finn nodded again, only wanting to listen to what he had to say. "She went ballistic. I actually had to calm her down by slapping her on the side of her face. Not that hard, but not too light either. So I'm telling you to ask her out when she comes back in here. 'Cause I don't know how much longer she can keep this up." "I-I don't know if I can." "Finn, even if you fail epically. In her eyes, you're still technically the last guy on earth, technically." "Eli, shut up." Finn said sarcastically before Anna came back into the room with her arms filled with frozen objects wrapped in paper towels. "I hope you don't mind having frozen meat wrapped in paper towels on you." She said right before one of the meats slipped out of her arms and fell to the floor, causing a domino effect with the rest of the meat. Anna gets a tad bit klutzy when she's nervous. She bent down to pick them up one at a time. And when she wasn't looking, Eli nudged Finn in the side with his elbow. "Um Anna, c-can I ask you, something." Finn stuttered out, his face turning a distinctive shade of red. Anna pulled her head up with a slightly anxious face. "Sure, what did you want to say." As she talked she could feel the blood pool in her cheeks. "Uh, well I was wondering, if you don't have any plans, that you, uh, might…" Eli cut Finn off by speaking in an English accent. "For Christ's sake man, spit it out." Finn's face turned redder as he finished what he was saying. "I was just wondering if you don't have any plans next week, that you might want to go do something with me, like a-a date?" Anna stood up, several frozen pieces of meat held in her arms. "Y-yeah, I'd love to." She said, smiling shyly. Anna then remembered she still had the meat in her arms and placed it Finn's aching body parts and went back for the rest on the floor.

"Hey Anna quick question. Where's Dad?" "He went to the library at the Candy Kingdom because something's really been bugging him." "Oh, well I hope he comes back soon. I'm sure he'll love to hear this good news." Eli said with an evil smile. Twenty minutes later, the Captain returned with a thick book under his arm. "Did you two get hit by a train or something?" "No, we got the biggest ass kicking of our lifetimes." "Actually, I would rank that as my third." Finn said, taking some of the thawed meat off of him. "But guess what happened while you were out." Eli said with the same evil smile. Michal shrugged. "What?" "Finn asked Anna out on a date for next week, when I suppose the both of us will be able to wiggle our toes again." Michal's face showed an expression of delight. "I needed some good news today." He said as he placed his sword against a wall and put the thick book on a table next to the door. The cover of the book read 'Dreams, Gateway to a Person's Subconscious, Soul, and Future.' The author of the book was printed in a small golden print, Dream Warrior.

"Anna if you would please take Eli into another room. I'd like to talk to Finn in private." "What." Finn said with his eyebrows raised. Anna walked over to Eli to help him up and as brother and sister walked out of the room, Anna whispered into Eli's ear. "I'm getting the idea that you had a hand in this." Eli smiled at her. "Don't be silly Anna, I can't even feel my hands."

"So, you're taking my only daughter out on a date, am I correct." Michal said as he took a seat next to Finn on the sofa, placing one arm over his shoulder. "Next week, to be precise." Finn said nervously. "Well Finn, as a father. It's my job to put the living fear of God into the poor kid who decides to date my daughter." Michal removed Finn's hat and placed it on his lap. "Don't get me wrong, but I did see this coming and am fully prepared." Michal kept a straight face as he looked into Finn's eyes and spoke in the most serious voice. "Now I'm going to tell you this, only once." Michal brought his free hand up to Finn's neck and began to tighten his grip on Finn's shoulder. He used his thumb and pinky to grab Finn's windpipe and the rest of his fingers to keep his jaw shut. That and the death grip on his shoulders made Finn's nerves flare up. "If you hurt her in any way. I will make the ass kicking you and Eli got today, look like a tickle compared to what I would do to you. Do you understand me?" Right now Finn was scared out of his mind. With the way Michal was talking, Finn couldn't decide if he was joking our not. But based off of the marine Captain he knew, he knew he was dead serious. Finn couldn't talk due to the pressure on his windpipe. So he did his best grunt and nod. Michal released Finn from his grasp and stood up. "Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more reading to do." The Captain said as he retrieved the thick book from where he had left it and went somewhere in the house to read it. Finn rubbed his neck as he realized he was alone in the room and so he thought aloud, just out of habit. "Note to self, never throw a dagger at another man's crotch ever again."


	11. White Out

**Chapter 11 White Out**

Finn struggled to make his way through a cavern. It was harder to walk with the infinite blackness that covered everything. Finn's head was throbbing. He had one hand over his mouth and broken nose. The only sound Finn could hear was the sound of his own footsteps and the slow dripping of his own blood. _'How can I not hear him, he's covered in all that armor.'_ As he took two more steps, Soturi's fist flew through the air and made contact with the left side of Finn's head. Finn collapsed on to the rough stone floor. "Fight back." Soturi said calmly, stepping away from his apprentice. "I can't." Finn said as he separated himself from the ground. "I can't fight what I can't see." The boy stood with his feet planted and his arms up, ready and willing to fight. "Yes, you can." Finn thought he had heard Soturi coming from the left again. So he leaned to his right to dodge the attack, only to meet Soturi's right fist.

Finn was flung backwards. Grunting as he hit the floor. "You're relying on your senses far too much." Soturi grabbed Finn by the straps of his pack and put him back on his feet. "You need to learn how to overlook them. See without your eyes. Hear without your ears. Feel without your hands." Finn spit the blood out from his mouth so he could talk clearly. "How is that possible?" "You tell me." Soturi rammed the palm of his hand into the center of Finn's chest. Finn was thrown against the cavern wall. Pain shot through his entire body. He tried his best not to scream, but it came out and echoed through the tunnels of the cavern. "Overlook your senses, boy. Complete the test, and kick my ass." Finn moaned as he stood up.

He took three steps before tripping on a rock, and fell to his hands and knees. Every breath he took was long and deep. _'Fine.'_ Finn thought as he slowly stood up again. He whispered to himself as he closed his eyes. "See, without my eyes. Hear, without my ears." Finn cleared his mind of all thoughts and emotions. After several minutes, the details of the cavern came to him. He envisioned every rock, every stalactite. Soturi came into view as well, along with a weird yellow fog that surrounded him. Finn could see a small smile on his face. _'Come on.'_ Soturi's voice rang through Finn's mind, but he overlooked it as well. The King lunged forward, fists clenched. Finn's warrior instincts reacted immediately and he barrel rolled to his right. As Soturi's fist made an imprint in the stone wall, he was filled with delight. "Good, good!" Soturi removed his hand from the wall and faced Finn. "Well, I'm waiting?" He said, his arms outstretched to some extent. Before Finn charged, he picked up a rock. Soturi took a swing at his protégée, but Finn dodged that as well and he slammed the rock into Soturi's helmet. It rang like a church bell as Soturi became as disoriented as a drunk man. Finn delivered two of his own punches to the gaps in Soturi's armor, right in his gut. Then the third to his jaw. The force of both punches sent Soturi backwards, but he was still standing.

Soturi's head was still ringing as Finn made his next move. He jumped up and kicked Soturi in his chest with both feet. The king toppled to the stone floor. He laid there for several seconds then started laughing. Finn walked up to him, eyebrows raised. "What's so funny?" he asked. "I'm just having trouble processing the fact that you've done more in five months, than I've done in over forty years." Soturi snapped his fingers, and both he and Finn were now in a thick forest. During the transport, Soturi put himself upright. Finn's eyes were twitching due to the change of light. "It's almost unnatural. My calculations were off by so much. I think it's time that you got one." "You know I can't read your mind." _'Actually, now you can.'_ Finn's eyes grew wide when Soturi's voice rang inside his head again. "Did you just…" "Yep. And you can do the same and much more when you get one of these, a valta as it is named." Soturi said as he raised his hand with the yellow eyed gauntlet on it. "Like what?" "Well, a valta allows whomever is wearing it to use their ora, manna, magic juice, whatever you want to call it. To turn it into things such as beams of energy, and force fields. That's what most of this training was for. Later on you will unlock certain abilities like teleportation and healing injuries. The best part is that you will also receive armor similar to mine and with my help, you'll learn how to in half the time." Soturi walked up to a fascinated Finn and placed his hand on his forehead. "I will give you the method of reaching the…" He stopped in mid-sentence when he realized something. "Huh, it appears that you've already been there. Regardless you are going back to the place my people called the King's Labyrinth or as it is known today…" _'The Dungeon of the Crystal Eye.'_ Soturi thought with a smile.

* * *

The sun had risen just after Finn did. He had been preparing for his trek to the Dungeon of the Crystal Eye. Soturi told him to leave his sword, and he did. All he had really done was grab his pack, and left a note for Jake. Finn jumped out of the second story window just because he could, he landed feet first on the grass. Finn groaned in pain as the nerves in his legs flared up. He still hadn't fully recovered from the beating he had received five days ago. Finn sucked it up and started a mad dash towards the Candy Kingdom. When Finn arrived there, he tip-toed his way into the royal stables. He called out the names of every strange animal until Finn found what he was looking for. "Candy horse, Candy horse, Candy horse, Candy horse, Candy horse, swan, ah there you are." Finn smiled at the majestic beast still sleeping in front of him, the Marrow. He opened the gate so he could remove the bird, but it refused. Interesting fact, Marrows are the only kind of birds that like to wake up at the crack of noon. The bird let out a squawk as it struck at Finn with beak and talons. The Marrow returned to nest when Finn backed off, it actually stared Finn down for a minute until it returned to its sleep. Finn slowly got up from the ground and brushed the hay off of him.

"How am I gonna get you outta' there?" Finn asked the bird. It only responded in a dead silence. Finn glanced at the end of the stable and saw a big fridge. He walked toward the fridge and opened it to find several buckets filled with fish. "There's my answer." Finn grabbed the bucket with the most fish in it and returned to the Marrow and whistled for its attention. Once the bird saw the fish, it immediately thought of Finn as a friend. Finn tossed a fish, the bird caught it in mid-air and swallowed it whole. Finn held up another fish to lure it out of the stable. And once the two were outside, Finn placed the bucket on the ground so the Marrow could finish the rest of the fish. As he mounted the bird he realized that he might want to leave a note and so he did, right in the Marrow's nest. "I wonder how mad the princess is gonna be?" he said as he remounted the bird and took off. The Marrow screeched rather loudly as it flew higher and higher. Finn closed his eyes and relaxed as the wind blew past him. "HEY!" Finn heard the scream of the princess very clearly, even though the Marrow was well past the castle walls. "THAT'S MY MARROW!" Finn hadn't heard Princess Bubblegum scream like that since the incident with the Duke of Nuts. "Okay, she's not mad. But she is really pissed."

For the entire forty minute ride to the dungeon, Finn had thought of what the princess might do to him. Everything from her simply yelling at him, to a tad bit of torture. However Finn forgot all about the princess' rage when he saw the well that was the entrance to where he was going. Finn maneuvered the bird to where the princess's swan had rescued him and Jake the last time they were here. Mostly so he could avoid a confrontation with that demon cat. He'd wanted to come back here just to kill that thing for some time now. But that would have to wait for another day. Finn landed the Marrow next to a tree and entered the opening.

Finn cautiously walked towards the stone stairway that wrapped around a menacing tower that held the colossal diamond known as the Crystal Eye. Finn grabbed the diamond and threw it to the side. It left quite a number of cracks in the floor when it landed. Once the diamond opened the hole it was covering, Finn ran back down the stairs just in time for four flying eyeballs that were engulfed in flames to pop out of the hole. Finn knelt at the bottom step as the eyes circled around him. He looked up at them before he bowed to the eyes. The fire went out as the eyes stared at the boy. After ten seconds of this, the eyes faded out of existence. Finn had learned from his previous visit to this dungeon. When those eyeballs attacked him and Jake last time, they immediately went for some weapons that had been scattered around the room and they would have died if not for the princess' aid. Finn picked himself up with a smile and returned to the top of the small tower. With closed eyes and a deep breath, Finn jumped down the hole. He fell for eight straight seconds in complete darkness. Finn put his feet and pack on the walls of the hole when he saw a dim light below him. By the time Finn was about two feet from the light, he came to a dead stop. The boy removed his legs from the wall of the hole so he could enter the light.

He landed in a pool of crystal clear water that was ten feet in diameter and about fifty feet deep. Finn looked back up at the hole he had fallen from. It was surrounded by a barrier made of pure light. The room the pool was in was similar to a giant bubble that had been cut in half. The curved walls were painted and engraved with beautiful art. Around the pool were four pillars that held the eyeballs Finn had bowed to a few minutes ago. He swam to the edge of the pool and stepped out. Once Finn was on dry land he realized that it wasn't stone like the rest of the labyrinth, but metal. He tried to ignore everything around him, but was captivated by the beauty of it all. Soturi's voice rang through Finn's mind as he told him to focus and to stay at the task at hand. "Oh, sorry." Finn looked around and saw the door on the opposite side of the bubble room. When he reached that, there was a long corridor that looked as if it was stolen from a mansion on the top of a hill. Finn walked down the corridor slowly, admiring the drapes and fabrics that shined as if they were made of gold. The metal floor, ceiling and walls where the golden cloths were hung, had the same luster as silver. As Finn neared the end of the corridor he saw two doors that were covered in every gem known to man. Diamonds, pearls, rubies, you name it, all in the shape of the gauntlet he was here to obtain. He placed his hands on the doors and was about to push them open when these words passed through his head. _'Finn, I'm going to tell you now, that when you go through those doors, I will be of no help to you. What you seek must be retrieved solely by you. And it will be worth it, trust me.'_ "Like I have a reason not to." Finn said as he pushed the bejeweled doors open. The boy stepped through and the doors slammed shut with an echoing thud. Finn stood in total darkness, the only sound he could hear was the sound of his accelerated heart beat. He nearly jumped out of his skin when two torches lit themselves and started a chain reaction of more torches that illuminated a large circular room. The floor of the room was covered in scraps of metal that were shaped irregularly. Finn step hesitantly forward, as if something was about to ambush him.

Down from the ceiling, came a blue orb of light. The orb circled around Finn for several seconds before it stopped in front of him. "Who are you? Why are you here, in my labyrinth?" The orb spoke in many voices, all at the same time and all of them male. "My name is Finn the Human, and I have come for a valta. And I will not leave until one is on my arm." "You have survived the trials of this place and so you will have your wish. Place your dominate hand on me." Finn did not hesitate to put his right hand on the orb, but if he knew what was going to happen, he certainly would have taken his time. A hot, searing pain shot through Finn's arm as blue light from the orb engulfed it. The pain was like nothing Finn had ever felt before, it felt as if his flesh was being ripped apart atom, by atom. Finn clamped his jaw shut and fell to his knees. He tried to tough it out, but soon blacked out from the pain.

"Awaken, awaken." Finn could barely hear the orb's many voices. "AWAKEN!" The orb shouted, rousing the boy in an instant. He shot up and glanced around the room. Finn saw two things as he got up, one that the orb was now white. Two, the valta was on his right arm. He examined the gauntlet carefully. It felt natural to him, because as far as Finn could tell the metal had replaced his top layer of skin. A white eye with a black triangular pupil stared back at him. Below the eye was a large pearl, embedded into the metal. He then realized that this must come with every valta, because he remembered that Billy's had a sapphire gem and Soturi's has a topaz gem in the exact same spot where the pearl was. "Finn the Human…" The orb drifted away from Finn and the scraps of metal to rise up from the ground and orbited the ball as it spoke. "…you must prove to me that you are fit to wield a tool of that magnitude of power. In one last trial." the scraps of metal began to collide together and form the shape of a wingless dragon. It had thick long claws, four sturdy legs, and a slender body. Its very long tail was composed of sliding metal plates, the same as the neck that was ten feet in length. The head of the dragon was bird like, with the addition of glowing white eyes and four curved horns, two of which looked more like ears than horns. "One of combat."

The dragon's head arched back and opened its jaw wide. It then sprang forward with white flames pouring out of its mouth. Finn only had a second to react. He raised his hands up, as if to deflect the blaze. However the flames quickly overwhelmed him. For five more seconds the dragon continued to spew fire. When the fires died down, Finn was still in the stance he was in when the fire overtook him. The only difference was that his valta was glowing and there was a protective bubble around him that faded along with the fire. Finn was so busy admiring the fact that he was still alive, that he didn't notice the dragon's tail swinging around. It swept Finn off his feet and clear to the other side of the room. He groaned as he hit the wall. The dragon's thunderous footsteps filled the air as it came toward Finn. As he stood up to fight, Finn noticed that his valta was still glowing. He pointed his palm at the dragon and concentrated. Not long after a white beam of energy shot from his palm. But with no aim or control, the beam just zigzagged several feet away from the dragon's head. "Not this again." Finn said as he hit the gauntlet, hoping to get a solid beam like when he wore Billy's valta. But instead of that, the valta's glowing crawled up Finn's arm and continued to surround the rest of his body. As the glow dwindled away, armor took its place. Armor that looked a lot like Soturi's, the only difference is that Finn's armor didn't look as if it had been through hell, and his was as white as snow. Before Finn could question this, the dragon's head lunged at him with its jaw wide open. Finn grabbed both top and bottom jaws. The force of the attack pushed him against the wall, but he still held strong. With an unnatural strength bestowed to him by the armor, Finn was able to twist the dragon's head to the right and the rest of its body as well. It cracked the floor with a booming thud.

"Oh man, if Jake could have seen that!" The dragon swung its head to the left so it could pick itself up, and in the process it knocked Finn down. The dragon took advantage of the downed hero, and struck at him with its bird like head. Finn rolled out of the impact zone and left the dragon's head stuck in the floor. While it was preoccupied, Finn rushed to its underbelly, the Achilles heel of every dragon. But before he could cause any damage, the dragon's tail wrapped itself around Finn's legs, dragged him out and hung him upside down in the air. The dragon pulled its head out from the floor and turned to Finn. It opened its mouth for the third time and Finn knew what was about to happen. He carefully aimed his palm at the dragon's mouth and fired another beam of energy, this time with deadly accuracy. The beam went down the dragon's throat, just as the fire was halfway up. The two collided causing most of the metal plates in the dragon's neck to be blown off. The rest of the metal beast collapsed and returned into the hundreds of metal scraps Finn had found when he entered the room. Finn removed himself from the pile of metal and staggered towards the door. He only turned around to watch the orb rise from the scrap pile and float back up to the ceiling.

As Finn stepped toward the doors, they opened by themselves. _'Congratulations, Finn.'_ "Thanks, Soturi." When Finn walked through the doors, his white armor disappeared. "What the…?" _'The room is magical. It enhances your powers by a lot, actually. But with that on your arm, the rest of your training will be a breeze. I promise."_ "Sweet." Finn strolled down the corridor paying more attention to his new toy than the works of art around him. When he entered the room with the pool, he saw that large metal rings had come out of the water and formed stairs. He climbed to the top ring and saw a metal plate the exact width of the hole above. Once both of his feet were on the plate, it acted as an elevator. Carrying Finn to the top of the hole. He found his way back to the Marrow and mounted it. "Okay girl, let's go home." Finn said patting the bird. But before it took off, a pair of hands grabbed Finn and threw him to the ground. He looked at the sky and saw the Marrow flying in the clouds. Looking down at Finn was an angry pink face. "Hey princess." He said feebly. "Dear princess, I need to borrow your big bird. Finn. That's all I got for an explanation, so I'm here for one that just might calm me down. Then let me hear it."

Finn didn't reply right away, he had to think and nothing came to mind. _'Soturi, I little help would be nice.' 'Well, maybe you could knock her unconscious.' 'Not funny, dude. Should I tell her? I mean, she can keep a secret.' 'No! No one but us is to know that my brother is alive. At least for now, but we'll find the best way to address the public.'_ Finn continued his mental conversation while the princess grew more impatient by the second._ 'Yea that's nice, but what the hell am I supposed to do here.' 'Honestly, I've got nothing and you're screwed.'_

**First off, I'd like to thank the Narwhal-Riding Alien, being the only person who reviewed the last four chapters and the only person who apparently gives a crap. I'm just saying, a little review never hurt anyone.**


	12. Birds of a Feather

**(That was more like with the reviews for the last chapter, those who did review the last chapter and gave their name, got a sneak preview of this chapter if they wanted it. But now you all get the whole thing.)**

**Chapter 12 Birds of a Feather**

Jake was stretched out on the couch of the tree fort's first floor, playing one of the many games Beemo offered. The dog let out a long and depressing sigh, not taking his eyes away from the small screen. "Beemo, you need to make some new games. Because the ones you got now are either beaten or just plain boring." Beemo crossed his arms before he spoke. "Well I'm sorry, but what you see is what you get." Jake continued to play the game until the screen read 'YOU WIN', and then he tossed the controller in Beemo's direction. "You're a stupid computer you know that" Jake said flatly. Beemo's face reappeared on the screen and it looked angry. "I don't like to be called stupid, Jake." Jake realized he had taken a wrong step and was about to apologize, but was interrupted by Finn calling his name.

Finn came down the ladder that led to his room. To prepare for his date with Anna tonight he had done almost two of everything; washing his hair and body, brushing his teeth, and putting on deodorant. Finn had also left his bear hat in his room and styled his hair so that he looked very presentable. Finn wore a white T-shirt which was under a plaid short-sleeved dress shirt with turquoise as it's dominate color, dark blue jeans and his regular black shoes. Soturi had taught Finn how to compress his valta into curved lines that wrap around his right forearm. A person would only think these little lines as nothing but small tattoos if they didn't know better.

"Whatcha' think?" Finn asked. Jake was so surprised at Finn's new look, he was almost at a loss for words. "Wow! You look great dude." "Thanks, I've been mentally preparing myself for tonight for a while now." Finn said as he made his way to the front door. "Well, good luck." Finn had just opened the door half way and stopped when he had to do a double take. He turned to Jake with a concerned face. "That's it, all I'm getting is just good luck." "What do you mean?" "Well if anything you'd be tagging along, giving me advice whether I need it or not. Why?" Jake looked at his brother and gave him a small grin. "I've been doing a lot of thinking ever since we dragged those three out of the cryogenic tubes. I knew that the chance of you and PB becoming a couple were between slim and none and I also knew you'd try to go for Anna since she's, well you know, human." "That's still not answering my question, Jake." "Well then let me finish." Jake sat silent for a few seconds so he could regain his train of thought. "And the reason that I'm letting you go by yourself is because Anna wants Finn the Human, not Finn in a lute suit." Finn nodded at Jake with a big smile. "Thanks Jake, don't wait up." Finn said as he stepped outside the door and closed it.

Jake relaxed back on the couch as he looked around the room. He realized that Beemo had disappeared. Jake immediately sat up and called Beemo's name. The dog began to rummage around for the talking computer. Unbeknownst to him, Beemo was watching Jake from the shadows, plotting like a mad scientist. "If the dog wants a new game, I shall give him a new game."

As Finn walked to Anna's house, his mind began to wander. He started thinking about how tonight could go very, very wrong. He thought of everything from a random thief trying to mug them, to a giant rabid squirrel attack. Finn was so caught up in his worries that he didn't notice his destination was only a few feet in front of him. The only thing that snapped Finn out of his trance was him actually walking into the side of the house. "Okay, I really need to stop thinking like that." Finn said to himself as he made his way to the front door. He took a deep breath and knocked. Several seconds later Michal opened the door and let him in. "I'll see if she's ready. Make you self at home." The Captain gestured to the couch where Eli and Marceline were sitting together. Since Finn and Eli were nearly killed a week ago, Finn's and Anna's date had turned into a double-date. Anna gave the biggest argument for this conclusion, but she learned to live with it only because Marceline was as stubborn as she was intimidating.

Finn sat down in a chair and waited for his date. He tried to make some conversation with the couple on the couch, but the way Marceline was dressed, with her very short jeans, and tight black blouse made Finn feel very uncomfortable. After a minute of awkwardness, Finn was overjoyed to hear two sets of footsteps coming down the hall. He stood up to greet his date but stopped in mid-sentence when he actually saw Anna. She was wearing a light blue dress with a glistening pink trim around the short sleeves and the edge of the dress, with the small amount of make up on her face and the new curls in her hair made Anna's face look almost as if it was glowing. She had her left arm tucked around her back and holding on to the opposite arm, which was raised to greet Finn. "Hey Finn." She said timidly.

Finn honestly couldn't process much of anything, he was struck in awe at how beautiful Anna looked. The only thing that brought Finn back to earth was Soturi's voice. _'Are you just going to stand there like an idiot, or are you going to do something.' _"Wow Anna, y-you look amazing." He said, and the girl thanked him with a small smile. Finn turned his head to tell Eli and Marceline that they were ready to leave but found that both of them were already outside, waiting for the adventurer and his date. So Finn and Anna walked side by side to the door. "Finn." Michal said from across the room. Finn stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face the Captain, who was now sitting on the couch. "Don't you forget what I told you now." Finn let out a nervous laugh. "I don't think that's possible." Finn said as he rubbed his throat. Before Finn walked out to rejoin the group, he saw a very satisfied smile on Michal's face.

"So where exactly are we going?" Anna asked. "It's a new club that's kinda like your house, except it's carved out of a small mountain just on the other side of Red Rock pass. And we better leave now or the place might be packed." Marceline happily answered. Yet the only person who had a problem with it was Finn. "Uh Marce', Red Rock pass is like a two hour walk from here." "Who said we were walking." Eli said as he wrapped on of his arms around Marceline's waist.

Marceline was holding Finn and Eli by the arms as she flew through the air at very fast speeds. She twisted her head to see Anna on her back, holding on for dear life. "You okay?" Marceline asked. Anna shook her head 'yes' slowly, then changed her mind and shook her head fiercely 'no'. The Queen brought down her speed for the girl's sake, and after ten minutes of flight, they reached their destination. The inside of Club Cave was an amazing display of flashing lights and loud music, with the dance floor packed with creatures of every shape, color, size, and weight class. "This place is actually kinda cool." Anna said before the two couples parted from each other and joined the dancing crowd.

For about an hour the scene didn't change much. Only when the DJ dimmed the flashing lights and put on a slow song, did most of the crowd decide to take a breather. Whoever was left on the dance floor had found a partner to share a dance with. Marceline's and Eli's arms were wrapped around each other, and neither one wanted to be anywhere else. Marceline looked up into Eli's brown eyes and bared the tips of her fangs as she smiled. Eli did the same as he slowly leaned in for a kiss, but before he closed his eyes, they saw something that he thought was just plain crazy. He turned his head slightly to make sure what he had seen was correct, and it was. "Unbelievable." He whispered. Marceline turned her head as well, only because of her curiosity. "What, what is… oh." Both could hardly believe what they were seeing, Finn and Anna sitting at a table with drinks in hands and just talking to each other. Eli and Marceline tried to ignore the picture and returned to their dance, but the expressions on both of their faces said that they couldn't just stand there and let this happen, so they gave in. "I'll get Anna if you get Finn." Marceline blurted out. "Works for me." Eli said as he broke away from his girlfriend and walked toward Finn and Anna.

"Okay you two, up now!" Eli commanded. Finn and Anna were a little surprised when Eli barged in on their conversation. "Why?" "Because we can't just watch you two waste an opportunity like this." "We?"Anna asked before she was yanked up by invisible hands and dragged toward the dance floor. Marceline made herself visible as Eli did the same thing with Finn. They hauled Finn and Anna to the center of the dance floor, where they were forced together. Eli put Finn's hands on Anna's waist and Marceline wrapped Anna's arms around Finn's neck. Before the two left to return to their dance, Eli whispered in Finn's ear. "Have fun."

After a brief moment of awkwardness , Finn and Anna started their dance. If past experiences had taught anyone, anything, it would be that Finn's entire face would be about as red as a cherry. But the only thing on his face at the moment, was a smile. As the new couple enjoyed their dance, Soturi's voice rang through Finn's mind once again. _'You are a very lucky man, Finn.' _The boy kept up his calm actions as he spoke his mind. _'Soturi, with all due respect, shut the hell up!'_

* * *

The two couples made their way out of the cave, enjoying the conversation that all of them were sharing. But the minute they were far enough from the club, Marceline drifted up about a foot in the air. "So, are you guys ready to go home?" Eli and Finn had established their answers with a simple nod, but Anna knew that they'd be flying back and she didn't want to go through that again. "No!" She exclaimed. Anna salvaged her composure and spoke in a calmer tone. "Why do we have to be in such a rush? We could just walk, I mean, it is a beautiful night." With that said, everyone looked up towards the heavens. Their eyes widened as the sky held every star in the Milky Way Galaxy as if it were an gargantuan work of art, without a single cloud to shield their view. They were struck with awe at the sight. "Oh thank God, it is." Anna whispered to herself. Marceline said, "Out of my thousand years of existence, I don't think I've ever seen the night sky like this." "Then I think we can all agree with Anna that we should walk." Eli said as he took hold of Marceline and held her close.

The four began their two hour walk home, but as far as they knew, they weren't alone. After they had crossed Red Rock pass, they were feeling as if they were being watched. Yet they overlooked it because of the joyous time they were having. "We've been in Ooo for what, half a year now." "That sounds about right." "Then Anna, that means that this is the first year that we've missed our Christmas tradition." "That's right. I guess it'll never happen again anyway." "What was your tradition?" Finn asked. Eli was happy to answer first. "Well every year, we'd sit down as a family and watch 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'." "Even when Dad was overseas, we still watched it as a family. All three of us know the song by heart." "Then can me and Finn hear this song?" Marceline asked. The two siblings looked at each other with enlightened faces before they spoke in unison. "Why not." Eli and Anna cleared their throats prior to singing the long forgotten song.

"You're a mean one, Mister Grinch  
You really are a heel,  
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as  
charming as an eel, Mister Grinch,

You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, Mister Grinch,  
Your heart's an empty hole.  
Your brain is full of spiders,  
You've got garlic in you soul, Mister Grinch

I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You're a vile one, Mister Grinch,  
You have termites in your smile,  
You have all the tender sweetness of a  
seasick crocodile, Mister Grinch,

Given the choice between the two of you I'd take the… seasick crocodi…"

Eli was cut short in the middle of the verse, when an invisible hand grasped his neck and lifted him up. Marceline, Finn and Anna were very shocked at this. Eli grabbed the arm that was attached the invisible hand around his throat and pulled himself up so that he could breath. As the hand became visible, along with the rest of the body it was attached to. The figure had bluish-gray skin like Marceline's, he only had three long stands of snow white hair on the top of his head. He was wearing a black shirt and pants, the shirt sleeves torn at the shoulders. He was looking at the human in his grip with an expression of frustration. Marceline instantly recognized the person who was holding her boyfriend. "Ash! What the hell are you doing!?" "I'm making you realize that you're still in love with me, Mar-Mar." Ash said, not taking his red eyes off of Eli. Finn and Marceline could have easily fought off the Vampire Queen's ex-boyfriend, but because he could easily snap Eli's neck like a twig, they stayed at a distance.

Ash maneuvered his right hand into the small pouch at his waist and pulled out a small crystal that he kept in his fist. "Do you know what's in my hand, mortal?" Ash said as calmly as he could manage. Eli answered in that way he almost always does, in joke form. "I'm hoping, anti-psychotic meds that you haven't taken yet." Ash tightened his grip on Eli's neck to shut him up. "No, this is a crystal with magic properties. All I need to do is break the crystal and speak the name of what ever I want dead and the crystal will kill that person, slowly and painfully. It only works once and with a simple touch of the hand, and if it's any consolation to you mortal. Getting back Marceline and bringing the human race that much closer to extinction, will bring me lots of satisfaction" "Ash." Marceline walked cautiously towards him as she spoke. "Please just listen to me, I broke up with you for a reason and then I moved on. You should have done the same. I love Eli and I know I always will, no matter what you do to him." Eli couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Marceline, his grip ain't gettin' any looser." Marceline ignore Eli and continued on. "What I'm trying to say is that you need someone else to obsess over." She didn't know it, not at first anyway, but what Marceline said made one of Ash's nerves snap. Ash clenched his right hand in anger, and accidentally broke the crystal. "I'm not obsessed with some bitch demon!" Ash screamed as he back-handed Marceline. The magic from the crystal amplified the force of Ash's slap and it sent Marceline down to the ground. Ash realized his mistake and dropped Eli so he could help Marceline, who was screaming in pain.

Once Eli was no longer in jeopardy, Finn lunged forward, tackling Ash like a linebacker. Ash easily threw Finn off of him and towards a thick tree. The only reason Finn didn't get up immediately was that he was activating his valta. Ash staggered back up, only to be confronted with an furious Eli. "You're gonna' pay for all of that you son of a bitch." Eli said as he took out the one of his swords he had brought and ignited the blade. He swung the weapon twice before plunging the tip into the vampire's gut. "You think that will hurt me?" Ash said with almost a laugh in his voice. "Then tell me how this feels." Finn said as he shot a beam from Finn's palm and with the angle from which he shot from, the beam had obliterated Ash's entire left arm. He stumbled backward, with Eli's sword still implanted in his abdomen. Eli didn't question the strange beam of energy, he merely took the opportunity to retrieve his sword and use the crescent-shaped hilt like brass knuckles on Ash, who was screaming in pain from his lost arm. With Ash lying on his back, Eli stepped up to him and lifted his chin with the end of his sword. "If you ever come back for Marceline, I swear that I'll kill you. Now get out of my sight." Ash didn't want to admit it, but he had been beaten by two mortals. One had blown his arm clean off. He growled as he slowly stood up and disappeared. With Ash gone, everything grew silent and Eli then realized that Marceline wasn't screaming anymore.

He had realized this around the same time Finn did, because they both ran towards her, yet Eli was running a bit faster. The three humans herded around the vampire. Eli knelt down and lifted her up. "Is she okay?" Anna asked. Eli didn't exactly know if she was in fact 'all right', mainly because he was feeling something that a vampire shouldn't have, a pulse.

"Finn, take Anna home." Eli said firmly as he stood up with Marceline in his arms, her head fell backwards as if she was a asleep. "But Eli, I can…" "I said take my sister home!" Eli was know for his childlike attitude, but when he addressed Finn, it was like a drill sergeant had spoken those words. Finn didn't want to argue with Eli, so he did as he was told. He took Anna by the hand and led her away. The both kept on walking, but occasionally looked back to see if Eli was following them; he wasn't. Eli was walking in the opposite direction, headed for Marceline's house. The entire walk back to Anna's home was void of any kind of conversation, even though the two walked hand in hand. When they reached the front door, Finn got the nerve to say something. "So, aside from all of that, did you have a good time?" Anna gave him an innocent smile before she answered. "Yeah, I guess I did." "Then do you think that we should do this again, with just the two of us." Anna leaned in and kissed Finn on the cheek . "Definitely." She bid Finn goodnight as she entered her house. Finn began his trek back to his own house, but as he took the first few steps, he raised both of his arms in the air triumphantly.

Eli still had Marceline in his arms when he saw the cave where her house was. Marceline might have been a light weight, but after the long walk she was starting to get heavy. Slowly Marceline regained her consciousness and when she opened her eyes she looked up to Eli and mumbled his name. Eli stopped dead in his tracks and looked down. "Marce, are you okay?" She took a few seconds to respond, but she did. "Yea I'm fine. Where are we?" 'Were about a hundred feet from your cave." "Okay, put me down, I want to walk the rest of the way." Eli slowly set Marceline on her feet. She wobbled a little but maintained her balance. As the two walked on, Eli only helped Marceline when she needed it. The couple walked up onto her porch and through the door.

Once Eli had found the light switch he flipped it on, and when he turned back to Marceline, his breath had been catch in his throat. It was the first time Eli saw her in the light. Her bluish-gray skin had been turned into a very pale pink, the two bite marks on her neck had disappeared just the same as her fangs did. "Marceline, I-I think that crystal that Ash had, turned you into a human." She gave herself an exanimation and Eli was right, Marceline was now as human as Eli. "I'm kinda sorry tonight ended the way it did." Eli said. "Eli, you don't have to be sorry, I'm actually happy that I'm a human now." Marceline walked back to the door and shut it with a mischievous smile. "Besides, who said tonight was over."

**( I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, or a happy What Ever Doesn't Offend You)**


	13. Cupid's Arrow

**Chapter 13 Cupid's Arrow**

The time was five thirty at in the evening. Finn was wearing the same kind of clothes that he almost always wears. He had just finished setting a table with a romantic spaghetti dinner for two, when he heard a knock come from the front door. _'Soturi, I don't want to hear you in my head for the entire night. This is our second date, and when I say our, I mean me and Anna. So disconnect yourself from me or something like, please.' _Finn thought as he walked toward the door. Soturi replied almost instantly. _'I understand Finn. You won't hear a mental peep out of me for twelve hours.'_ Finn took a deep breath as he reached for the knob and turned it. On the other side of the door were standing Jake and Anna, waiting patiently. When the door was open Jake wasted no time being himself. "Now presenting, the Duchess of San Francisco to the Hero of Ooo, Miss Anna Bates." Jake said in a fancy accent. Finn smiled at his brother's antics and decided to play along. "Much thanks for courting her, my friend. But if I'm not mistaken, you should have been at Lady's home in about…" Finn paused so that he could look at the imaginary watch on his wrist. "…Now." The pair exchanged smiles before Jake turned and grew his legs extremely long so he could make his way to Lady's house quicker. The two humans watched the dog walk off and out of sight. Finn quickly thought of something smart he could use in his favor. It might have sounded stupid in his head, but he went for it anyway. Finn turned to Anna while she was still watching Jake and bowed like a gentlemen to her before speaking. She was in her regular cloths, but to Finn she still looked beautiful. "My Duchess, our dinner awaits." Anna giggled as Finn stepped aside to let her inside. Finn closed the door behind Anna, and guided her to where he had set up their dinner. "This looks tasty, Finn." Anna said as she sat in the chair that Finn had pulled out. He pushed her in as he told Anna the rest of what he had planned to tonight. "Well after this, we're going to watch your favorite movie upstairs." Finn said as he sat down in his own chair. "How did you find a working copy of 'Soul Surfer'?" Anna asked. Finn only gave a small smile and a simple answer. He knew Eli had found him the movie, but that's not what Finn wanted her to think. "I know quite a find certain things, Anna."

The two began to eat their dinner and as they ate, the conversation shifted from jokes and stories, to what had happened to Marceline on their previous date. "I'm not really that good in the department of magic, but apparently that crystal somehow removed the demon part of Marceline's soul and left the human part behind." "So she's actually happy that she's human now. If I was a vampire and somehow got turned back into a human, I'd be begging to get back all of vampire powers." Anna said before she placed a fork full of spaghetti in her mouth. "Well I guess it's just a matter of opinion. 'Cause when I talked to Marce', she told me why she was happy. She had watched almost everyone she's ever cared about grow old and die. And the few friends that she had made that were immortal or ghosts were complete jerks. Marceline gave me an entire lecture on the subject, but the major point that I got was that, and I quote, immortality is a fate worse than death." The couple continued to eat their dinner and chat for about thirty more minutes. When they had finished all of their food, Finn took the plates and carried them to the kitchen sink.

Finn came back to the table to find Anna waiting patiently for him to guide her to wherever they were going. She took Finn's hand and he walked her up the set of stairs that lead to a room with a circular couch. The two made themselves comfortable on the couch and Finn looked at Beemo on the other side of the room, who was hooked up to a projector. "Okay Beemo, play the movie." "What movie?" Beemo asked. "The movie I gave you about an hour ago." Finn said, sounding a little annoyed. "I'm sorry Finn, but I have no memory of you giving me any kind of movie." After a few seconds of thought it dawned on Finn that he had… "Left it downstairs." He said. "I'll be right back." Finn said as he stood up to walk back down the stairs to look for the movie. But with every step he took, came an insult he gave himself. Finn tried to recall where he had placed it. After frantically turning his head in every which way, Finn remembered that he put the film in his pack that was resting next to the door. He rummaged through the contents of his pack, hoping to find it. "Knife, flute, rope, diamond, movie." Finn smiled as he lifted the movie up, then he realized that something was stuck to the back of the case. He turned it around and saw that the object was the lock of Princess Bubblegum's hair. He peeled the gooey object off of the case, wondering how it hadn't turned grey and hard for all the months it had been in there. Finn held both the movie and the lock in both of his hands, almost balancing them. Finn unknowingly started to walk back towards the staircase. When he realized it, he quickly made his way to the nearest trash can and tossed the lock into it. Finn smiled to himself as he ran back upstairs to put the disk in Beemo and made himself comfortable again on the couch next to Anna.

As the movie played, Anna snuggled her way closer to Finn. But as she remembered that she had seen the motion picture about a hundred times, her mind began to question the events of their previous date several nights ago. "Hey Finn." She said abruptly. Finn looked down at her with raised eyebrows. "When we were attacked by Marceline's ex-boyfriend, how exactly did you shoot at laser at him?" Finn was surprised at her question. It took him a while to think of response. "Uh, that's kind of a secret." "Then why can't you tell me? I am your girlfriend." "I know that, but this secret is like a fate of the world kind of secret, maybe two." "Oh that just makes it juicier, now you have to tell me." "The answer is still no, Anna." "Please." She said in a pitiable tone, and turning her face to bear a resemblance to a sad puppy. "Anna, I was raised by talking dogs. That's not going to work on me. But when I have to tell everyone about this secret, I promise that I'll tell you first." "That's nice, but can you at least tell me how you can shoot lasers, I want to know if I'm dating Iron Man or something." Finn guessed that Soturi wouldn't mind if he told Anna this, it wasn't like he was giving away anything. He shrugged, removed his right arm from her shoulder and brought it to where she could easily see it. The lines on his arms began to glow and spread to the rest of his fore-arm. The glow quickly faded away and revealed Finn's valta. "It's called a valta. It allows me to use my life energy to do lots of stuff like lift objects and yes, shoot lasers. It can also allow me to speak with someone psychically. That's pretty much all I can do for now, but eventually I'll learn how to do cooler stuff like heal wounds, teleport, generate force fields, and make my own really awesome armor." Anna was busy inspecting the valta, but held on to every word. "That is so cool! Can you show me the psychic thing?" _'How do you want me to do that?'_ Anna reacted excitedly to Finn thoughts when they passed through her head.

Anna's excitement died down after a few minutes and they continued to watch the movie. Eventually, the film came to an end. Finn looked down at Anna, whose head was resting on his chest. He then realized that she was asleep. Finn didn't want to wake her, but with a simple nudge her eyes opened. "I fell asleep, didn't I?" She asked, not lifting her head. "Yeah, you did. But I thought this was your favorite movie?" Anna began to stretch as she explained herself. "It is, but I've seen it so many times that I could tell you every single line from every single character, forwards and ba…" As Anna talked, she lifted herself up on Finn's shoulder, but slipped. And acting on impulse, Finn caught her immediately.

Anna looked up at Finn, only to find that both of their faces were almost three inches apart. The red quickly covered the two teen's cheeks. Finn and Anna held their positions for several seconds, not sure what to do. Finn made the first move by moving his head forward very slowly, as if waiting for permission. Anna granted permission by moving just as slowly. They closed their eyes and sloped their heads ever so slightly. Just before their lips met for a definition heat of the moment kiss, an extremely loud crash came from downstairs. Causing the two to jump back in surprise.

Finn and Anna remained silent as the heard two heavy footsteps, the sound of something being dragged across the floor, and the occasional hiss. Anna whispered so only Finn could hear her. "What the hell that?" "I have no idea, but I'm about to find out." Finn said just as quietly as he stood up, and walked into the next room to find his sword that was resting against a wall. Finn came back into the room with Anna, and gave her a reassuring smile before walking slowly downstairs. And as he did so, Finn wondered what would be waiting for as him. Finn reached the last step. He peered his head around the corner and saw two things. One was a gaping hole in the wall that the intruder had made; ironically it was placed right next to the door. But when Finn turned his head to the second thing, his face turned white and his heart skipped two beats. He couldn't believe what he saw rummaging through his fridge. There were some minor changes, but Finn would never forget the image that had been burned into his subconscious. There stood the same beast that Soturi had created to test Finn for his training, with several minor differences. The beast still had its basic body shape, with its T-Rex legs, the nine foot long tail with spikes on the end, the long thick arms with pointed elbows, and coated in the same shade of black scales. The only real changes were the head and hands. The hands had gone from five fingered claws to three thick fingers that looked more like talons. The head went from a human skull with a wide jaw and gazelle like horns, to a full canine like head that sported a cobra hood which was about a foot and a half in width. The beast grabbed several of the fish Jake had been saving for his lunch tomorrow with its two mandible jaw. It lifted its head to let gravity force the fish down its throat.

Finn had quickly turned his head back, not sure if what he saw was right. But if it was, Finn knew that there was only one explanation. The Lich had finally made his move. Finn could tell that the beast in his house wasn't the actual Lich, but he could feel his energy radiating off of it. _'Soturi. Soturi, come on answer me._' Finn stood in silence for several seconds, waiting for some king of reply but received nothing. _'Damnit, why does he have to be a man of his word?'_ Finn thought as he walked back up the stairs just as quietly as he went down them. But as he stepped back on to the second floor, he looked at the girl sitting on the couch with his face still white. "So, who's downsta…?" Anna was cut off when Finn rushed over to her and clamped his hand over her mouth. Anna saw the fear in his eyes, as she reached for Finn's hand and slowly lowered it. "Finn, what's downstairs?" She whispered in a commanding yet slightly scared tone. "That's another part of my secret. But I promise that I'll tell you every last bit of my secret when I'm done downstairs, as long as you promise me that you'll stay up here, stay quiet, and stay safe, no matter what you hear." "Why aren't you answering me?" "Anna…" Finn cupped the side of her face and forced her eyes to look into his. "…Please." The expression on Finn's face told Anna how serious he was being. "Okay, I promise."

Finn smiled at Anna again, he pondered the idea of kissing her right then and there, but the moment didn't feel right. He stepped away from her and made his way back down the stairs again. Finn had his sword in his left hand and his valta primed and ready on the other. He took a deep breath before he walked out into the open and said. "I'll say this once, get the hell out of my house." The beast turned around to face its target, its glowing reptile eyes burning a hole through Finn's forehead. "Do you know why I'm here, boy?" The beast said in its deep gravely voice, slowly walking forward. "I can take a guess." "My master has sent me to rid himself of you, so that his plans may carry out. Are you prepared to die?" "Yeah, yeah I've heard it all before." Finn said as he took the first strike, he leapt forward and swung the demon blood sword at the beast's head. It hadn't expected Finn to take the first swing, but it pulled its head back just in time for the sword to chip a few of the black scales. Finn used the fluid motion of the sword in his left hand, to bring his valta down on the side of its head. The beast hissed as it stumbled back.

As Finn continued to fight the beast downstairs; Anna was upstairs curled up into tight little ball, flinching every time she heard any kind noise that included thuds, hisses, and grunts. She felt completely useless, just sitting while Finn was as far as she knew, risking his life to save hers. To her it felt wrong. Beemo had unplugged himself from the projector and made its way to her side. "You are you worried for Finn, aren't you?" She turned to the small console with her gloomy face. "Is it that…" She paused due to the loud scream made by Finn. "…obvious?" "Yes it is, but don't worry. Things like this happen more often then you'd think." "Really, strange creatures jump through Finn and Jake's walls and…" She paused again to the dull thud that made the floor shake. "…and just attack." "Sort of, how else do…" Beemo's voice began to fade out, it was almost as if Anna's mind was making her focus on the fight downstairs. She placed both of her hands over her ears to try and block out the sound, but it only did so much as to muffle the noises. After several seconds passed, Anna realized that her hands were actually working. A curious look came to her face as she slowly removed her hands from her ears. The sound of three extremely loud thuds instantly made Anna regret her decision.

Anna couldn't take the stress anymore. She immediately stood up and carefully made her way down the staircase. Anna stopped dead in her tracks about half-way down when she heard a hissing come up the stair well. She put a hand over her mouth as she continued at a slower speed. As she got closer to the bottom step, she could see the beast creeping along the floor, focused on the opposite side of the room. Anna turned her head to see what it was looking so hard at, and saw Finn's semi-conscious body lying face down, with three big bloody scratches on his back. The beast would have been alerted of Anna's gasp if it hadn't been hissing so loudly.

When the beast reached Finn, it turned him over with its clawed hand and gave a victoriously, high pitched roar right in Finn's face. The only thing that the roar did to Finn was make him gag. "Oh man, I can smell the fish." The beast grabbed both of Finn's hands and lifted him up. As it was doing so, Finn caught a glimpse of Anna. He couldn't believe that she had come down here, she'd promised. _'Anna' _Finn's voice rang through the girl's head and she wasn't very surprised at this. _'While this thing is distracted, I want you to get out of here. Get as far away from here as possible.' 'But Finn…' 'Don't question it, just do it!'_ Finn's thoughts had sounded as serious as anyone could get. Anna was scared, confused, and a little angry, but she was used to this. Not the monster thing, but to taking orders when given in a tone like that. She began to tip toe her way from the bottom step and out the gaping hole in the wall. As she paced along she heard the beast talk to Finn. "My master told me, that if was victorious in battle, that I may feast upon you flesh." The beast's words gave Finn the extra bit of strength he needed to struggle, but it only forced the beast to wrapped its tail around his legs and gripped his hands tighter. The words also made Anna think, think of the second day when her family came to Ooo. Mainly what her father had said to her when she had that nervous breakdown. _'And the blood of a marine runs through your veins, says that you're strong, you're willing, you're stubborn, and that you're ready for almost anything that life has to throw at you.'_ She was overwhelmed with all of the questions that bounced around in her head. Yet all of those questions seemed to answer themselves as Anna saw Finn's sword in front of her feet.

The beast had craned its head over Finn's as it detached its two mandibles from its jawline and slowly dropped its head down. Finn continued to struggle as he closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen, and something did. Anna had picked up Finn's sword and plunged it into the beast's back, right between its shoulder blades. The sword didn't go deep enough to kill the beast, but it did go deep enough to get its attention. The beast arched its head back and roared in pain, it had also released Finn's right hand so that it could peirce Anna with its spiked elbow. Unknowingly, the beast had released Finn's valta as well. Finn took the opening and quickly placed his palm over the beast's forehead, Finn shoot a beam of energy that carved through the beast's head and as well as the wall on the other side of the room. Finn was freed from the beast's grip as it fell left on to the ground, dead. Finn ignored the pain that shot though his body as he stood up to celebrate his victory, but when he did he saw something worse than the thing that had just tried to kill him. He saw Anna lying on the floor, bleeding out of the stab wound just below her ribs.

Finn ignored the pain that shoot through his back and immediately rushed to her side. He yanked off his hat and forced it over the wound. "Anna, I told you to run." Finn said, agony clear in his voice. "I know, but then you'd be dead." Anna said slowly as her eyelids began to droop. "NO, no don't close your eyes!" Finn knew exactly what he had to do but he didn't want to leave her like this, but then again he had no real choice. Finn took Anna's hand and placed them over the wound. "Apply pressure, keep calm, and I'll be back before you can say come back." Anna did as told and Finn ran as fast as he ever had to the bathroom upstairs. He nearly crashed into the sink as skidded to a halt. Finn wrenched open the medicine cabinet and searched frantically, tossing what he wasn't looking for to the floor. "Come on, where are those Cyclops's tears!" Finn then remembered that Jake had taken the vile of magic fluid to Lady's house just in case something happened to her or their pups. Finn was filled with rage as he slammed the medicine cabinet with such a force that it shattered the mirror into hundreds of tiny pieces. But before a single glass shard could touch Finn, he was already out the door and back to Anna's side.

With the time Finn had been gone, Anna's skin had turned to an unhealthy pale. The floor around her was coated in blood and Finn's hat had gone from the snow white to a reddish-black, even though Anna had stopped applying pressure several seconds after Finn left. Finn forced his right hand on the hat with his valta glowing. Finn was trying to heal the wound, something that he didn't know how to do. He was focusing, almost forcing his energy into his palm. Finn began to repeat a single word in his head, _'Heal'._ But as the energy built up, Finn realized that the only thing that would emerge from his valta was the same thing that pierced through the beast's head not moments ago. He quickly removed his valta from Anna just so he could release all of the built up energy as a beam that cut through the floor and deep in to the ground. With that option out the window, Finn only had two decisions left. One was aiming to transport him and Anna to Lady's house for the Cyclops's tears, and the second was to just let the girl of his dreams bleed out and die the same way her mother did.

Finn pushed his hand under her back, gently lifted her up and adjusted his hat back over Anna's wound. He continued to apply pressure as he embraced her. Finn once again forced the energy that flowed through his body, but instead of forcing it into his valta. He made the energy spiral around the two teens. The two words that Finn now focused on in his mind were _'teleport'_ and _'Lady's'_. Finn could tell that this was working only because he could feel the energy gaining momentum. All of the pressure was causing Finn's heart to accelerating as well, which pumped the blood even faster out of his own wounds. He knew that if he failed at this, it meant death for Anna and possibly him as well. So Finn clamped his eyes shut so that he could concentrate harder, and as the energy moved faster and faster; Finn felt a sudden jolt as all of the swirling energy slowed to its regular speed. Finn opened his eyes and found that he had missed his original destination by a long shot and had landed the two in the Candy Kingdom. To be more precise, they were in the exact same room where Finn had first met Anna. Everything was basically in the same place with the four empty beds, dressed with hospital corners. There were still cracks on the wall from where Michal had slammed him against it, no one had really bothered to fix them.

Finn screamed for help as loud as humanly possible, he screamed so loud that he actually lost his voice as one of the candy doctors rushed into the room. He stood paralyzed by shock when he saw the two humans, who had been coated in their own blood. The doctor came back down to Earth when Finn gave his commands in his now frail voice. "Take her, help her!" More candy people appeared in the door as the first doctor carried Anna's pale body with great haste. The few other candy people that had medical training immediately recognized what was in the doctors arms and ran after him to help. The several candy people that stayed at the door now entered the room, their curious voices filling the room. Finn ignored the eyes as he picked himself out of the shallow crater that Finn's transport had created.

Princess Bubblegum hurried through the halls of her castle. It was her responsibility to care for each and every one of her citizens, and when one of them screams like that. It's a relief that she's really good at her job. The Princess slowed down as she saw the small group of candy people. "Alright guys, what's going o…" She cut herself short when the small group parted to let Finn step out into the hallway. "Oh dear." The Princess almost didn't want to look at her friend. He looked as if he had been tied to the end of a horse and dragged through hell. The Princess broke up the group as she stepped closer to the boy and whispered to him. "Finn, what happened to you?" Finn gave no response, he only hunched his head that bared no expression. The Princess placed a hand over her mouth as anxiety flashed in her eyes. She turned her to the right so she didn't have to look at the blood and caught a quick glimpse of the three thick scratches on Finn's back. She positioned her hand on his back, careful not to touch the crimson liquid. "Come on Finn, lets get you all fixed up." She said as she guided Finn down the hall and to the medical ward, oblivious to the small trail of blood that went in the same direction.

Princess Bubblegum had passed on Finn to a doctor that wasn't busy with the human that had come before them and had also called upon Peppermint Butler. "Would you please call Jake? He needs to know what happened to Finn, even if we don't know." "And I suppose you would also wish me to call upon Anna's father as well?" Peppermint Butler's voice remained as calm as ever, while the Princess' voice was very full of emotion. "Wait, Anna is here too?" "Yes, I saw some of the doctors take her in for surgery." "Surgery! How did...! No, no Michal has to be the last to know. He'll kill Finn for sure." "So Eli, then." "Yes, when you call Jake, tell him to find Eli."

* * *

Eli held onto the hand of a blindfolded Marceline as he led her up a hill, both of them with smiling faces. "Just tell me where you're taking me, Eli." "No trust me, its better if I just show you." Eli led his girlfriend to the very top of the hill and removed the blindfold. Marceline stared in awe at the view of the sun that was slowly setting over the rolling hills. The sun was casting an array of reds, oranges, pinks, and purples. "It's beautiful and all, but why did you bring me out here?" "So you could look down." Marceline raised an eyebrow as she looked downward and saw a neatly wrapped box. She bent down to pick up the box and tilted her head to the side. "What's this about?" "Just that something's been telling me that I should give you this before some other crazy thing happens, now open it." Marceline shrugged as she tore off the paper on the box and opened it. When she saw the object inside, she was speechless. Marceline hadn't seen it in almost two hundred years. "How did you find this?" Marceline asked softly as she pulled out of the box, her long lost friend Hambo. She dropped the box and hugged the raggedy doll. "You'd be surprised what a witch will trade for an iPod. I just wish she hadn't put that little zippered pocket on him." Eli said as he slowly stepped behind Marceline. She gave a Hambo a quick inspection and sure enough, there was a zipper on the same place it would be on a marsupial. Marceline unzipped it and found a single item inside the pouch, a diamond ring. Marceline's mouth dropped and her eyes grew, she had small idea of what was going on but wasn't sure. But as she heard Eli call her name, Marceline was now one hundred percent sure when she turned around and saw Eli on one knee and asked. "Will you marry me?" The Queen was now completely dumbfounded, it took her several seconds to take it all in. "Y-yes, yes I'll marry you." Eli grabbed the ring from Marceline so he could place it on her ring finger, and as Eli stood up, he brought her in for a very passionate kiss.

"ELI!" Jake's voice roared over the hills, as his overly stretched body came closer to the two, causing them to break away from each other with looks of irritation. "You have really bad timing, Jake." Eli said. "I don't care. Finn and Anna are in the hospital." "What!" Eli and Marceline shouted in unison. "What happened?" "I don't know, but Pepper Butler said that there's a lot of blood." Jake said as he picked up the two humans and started a mad dash to the Candy Kingdom.

By the time the three had made it to waiting room of the hospital, Finn's wounds had already been cleaned and bandaged and Princess Bubblegum sat next to him on the couch trying to comfort the boy. Jake ran in screaming with the bottle of Cyclops' tears held tightly in his hands. "I got the tears, I got the tears!" Jake hurried to his brother's side. "Finn, buddy. Are you okay?" Finn still gave no response, he just sat there in his shoes, shorts and nothing else, head hunched down and looking only at arms which were resting on his legs. Eli and Marceline came up to the Princess while Jake was trying to get any kind of response out of Finn. "Please tell me you know something about this." "My guess is as good as yours, Eli. They just appeared out of nowhere." Princess Bubblegum stood up so she could whisper into Eli's ear. "And I don't know if you want to hear this, but when nurse Pound-cake ran out of the surgery room for supplies, she told me Anna's condition." Eli face had turned into one of misery. He took a deep breath before saying. "Go on." "She said that Anna has a slim chance of surviving the surgery, she lost a lot of blood." Eli cursed under his breath as he stepped away from the small group of his friends, his hands folded over his mouth.

Jake had removed the cork from the bottle and lifted it above Finn's head. Finn's hand immediately shoot up and tilted the bottle back up so none of the magic liquid would drip on him. "No." He said in a frail voice. However it was loud enough to make everyone stare at him. "I want to keep these scars." "What does he mean no, what the hell is in that bottle?" Eli asked in a jumbled fashion. "Cyclops' tears, the magically heal any wound." "Than give them to me, I'll use it on Anna." "Eli, you can't get in there." Marceline said. "The door's are magnetically sealed, even I know that." The waiting room fell completely silent. No one really had anything to say after that point, and it stayed like that for several minutes, even when everyone found a seat. Finn called for his brother, who had been glaring at the gauze on Finn's back that had three blurred lines of red. Jake quickly came to face him. "Would you go back to the tree fort and get my pack?" Jake nodded at Finn's request. "Of course dude, I'll be back before you know it." Jake gave his best smile to at Finn, but it was of no use because Finn didn't bother to look up. Jake walked quickly out of the waiting room and everything returned to the uncomfortable stillness. Bubblegum sat next to Finn like any princess would, straight posture with her hand held together over her crossed legs. However her face was filled with tension. Eli and Marceline sat on a separate couch on the opposite side of the room. Eli had his arm tightly wrapped around his fiancé, on the verge of tears. It was a good thing Eli had given Hambo to Marceline as a gift, because right now she had given it back to Eli so he could find some releif in the stuffed toy and it help alway helped make the scary go away for Marceline when she was a kid. Marceline let her head rest on Eli's chest as she curled up into a ball, more worried for her friend than she's ever been about anyone. At the moment, all three of them could do nothing, nothing but wait and hope for the best. Finn had entirely zoned everyone and everything out. He was still staring at his hands, horrified at what they had touched. Even if the water had washed it away, Finn could still feel the warmth of the blood, her blood.

**(I really didn't like writing the end of this chapter, **


	14. Remorse

**Chapter 14 Remorse **

Michal ambled along the grasslands towards Finn and Jake's tree fort. He had been on so many adventures, he had worn out his clothes. He could no longer wear most of them. So Michal had asked Princess Bubblegum to construct a Kevlar-like material that he could wear as armor over his new clothes. He had placed his make-shift armor on his arms, chest, and thighs. It felt almost natural to the Captain. When he had received it, he asked Finn to hit his chest plate as hard as he could with his sword to test it strength. It had left a small but long mark across the torso. This made Michal very pleased.

However he wasn't as happy at the moment as the faint glow of the half-moon illuminated his irritated face. "I told her to be back before sundown, was that to much to ask?" He said to himself as he neared the tree fort. As Michal approached the door, something shot out of what Michal thought was an open window. Startled, Michal jerked his hand to his obsidian sword, but pulled back when he realized it was only Jake, holding Finn's pack tight in his arms. The Captain called after Jake and found it odd when he didn't reply and had stretched his body east, en route for the Candy Kingdom. _'He must have better things to do.'_ Michal thought as he shrugged and turned to beat on the door. But as he did, he realized that the window that Jake had emerged from was really a gaping hole in the wall. His mouth dropped as his eyebrows rose. Michal ignored the door and captiously stepped toward and through the hole. Due to the eerie darkness that filled the room, he couldn't make out much of anything. Michal remembered where the stairwell was and made his way to it.

As Michal walked onto the second floor, a small, yet thick cloud drifted out of the moon's light which shone brightly though a window. He called out Finn and Anna's names as he gripped the hilt of his sword, not sure if he would find the young couple or something waiting to strike. Michal continued to search the second floor, but found nothing. Michal decided that no one was home and returned to the stairwell. "Maybe I somehow passed them on the way here without knowing it." Michal said to himself as he walked back down the stairs. But when Michal stepped onto the first floor, the moonlight revealed the dead beast that had attacked Finn not twenty minutes ago. Michal drew his sword from the sheath on his back and pointed it and at the beast. He made sure that every step Michal took was as quiet as possible, despite the fact that he was wearing his worn down combat boots. "Please be dead, please be dead." Michal whispered to himself. He slammed the sole of his right boot against the limp body of the beast and quickly jumped back. Michal figured that the thing was dead, since there was no reaction to his kick, and he observed Finn's sword wedged between the black scales. With a sigh of relief, Michal stepped back. He frowned at the sound of his foot stepping in a puddle. When Michal looked down at the puddle, his face paled with shock. The dim moonlight presented the crimson color of the liquid he was standing in.

It didn't take long for Michal to piece everything together. Not one person in the house, a dead monster with a pool of human blood beside of it, plus the fact that Jake had left in such a rush. He wasn't completely sure, but he was sure enough to make a mad dash out through the hole, towards the Candy Kingdom.

It only took Michal ten minutes to run all the way from the tree fort to the gardens filled with lush, colorful plants. He ignored all of them as he entered an open door to find the nearest candy person, who just happened to be Cinnamon Bun. Michal had barely caught his breath before he screamed at the living pastry. "YOU!" The harshness in Michal's voice and the heated look on his face terrified Cinnamon Bun to the point where he was about to explode. "Where's Anna, I know this place has the closest hospital and I have to be sure she's here, so where is she?!" The living pastry was shaking so furiously that some of his glazing was falling off. "U-uh s-she m-migh-might…" "SPIT IT OUT!" Michal yelled. "Emergency room," squeaked Cinnamon Bun. And with that said, Michal was off once again.

Michal found the medical ward in no time, and when he found the door to the waiting room. Michal showed his rage to the people sitting just beyond the doors even before he forced them open. "Where is he, where is that SON OF A BITCH!?" Michal scanned the room and first saw his son, Eli sitting next to Marceline on one side of the room, and Jake and Princess Bubblegum sitting next to a shirtless Finn. Finn was the only one who wasn't looking at Michal, he was still looking down at his hands. Everyone else was staring at The Captain with fearful eyes. Finn was compelling the remainder of energy inside of him to start swirling around him, because he knew what was coming.

"There you are." Michal said, not taking his eyes off of the boy. As he walked toward Finn, Eli and Jake quickly stood up. Jake had stretched his body to form a protective wall in front of his brother. Eli confronted his father to try and stop him. "Dad, I know what you're thinking but…" "Sit down!" Michal screamed as he shoved Eli back several feet, making him grunt as his back slammed against the bottom edge of his seat. Not a second later Michal reached Jake, who had stretched out his arms to grab Michal and lift him up by his shoulders. Michal looked down at the dog and said. "Jake, you're a father now. Out of all the people in this place, you'd understand what I'm doing is just." "No, I'd never do…" Jake was cut short when Michal realized that he didn't give a crap about Jake's opinion and quickly brought the toe of his boot to Jake's jaw. The force of his kick was strong enough to knock a few teeth loose and render the dog unconscious for about a minute. As Michal landed feet first on the floor, he grabbed his sword, unsheathed it, and began to swing it toward Finn. But just before the polished black blade could rip through the teen's flesh, Finn teleported himself to a different location in the room. But because of the almost depleted energy Finn had, the transport had only smashed him into the corner where the walls and ceiling met. Finn cried in pain as he fell to the floor, a clear sign that the pain killers the doctors had given him were wearing off.

Michal was completely dumbfounded when his sword dug itself deep inside the plastic seating. He looked over to where Finn had landed, and decided that it didn't matter. The Captain was about to pull out his sword to finish the job, but Eli jumped on his back, wrapped his right arm under Michal's armpit and around his neck. Eli got his father off balance and easily took his down to the ground, pinning him. "Eli, what are you doing!?" "The move you taught me!" Eli replied. "Now just listen." The sound of Eli's voice made Michal calm down just a little bit, because he realized that he wasn't the only one who was scared and angry. "You don't need to do this, it wasn't Finn's fault." "Well who's fault is it, Eli." "Finn's the only one who knows, but he's barely said anything." Michal could feel his son's relief in Eli's grip and used that to his advantage. He brought the elbow of the arm Eli wasn't holding down and smashed it against Eli's rib cage. Eli rolled off of his father in pain as Michal got up and charge toward Finn. Finn gave no resistance when Michal grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up to eye level. He ignored the fact that bloody gauze covered most of his back and the fact that his hatless head bared the grief-stricken expression everyone else had. He only wanted answers. The anger in Michal's eyes would have made any man tremble in fear. However the anguish and grief in Finn's eye seemed to cancel it out. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't snap your little neck." The answer was very clear in Finn's mind, yet it took him a few seconds to respond from the pain that flared through his nerves. "I-I can't." Just as Michal was about fulfilling his word of snapping Finn's neck, he heard Marceline cry out his name.

The Captain turned his head and saw the former vampire who held her oldest friend in her crossed arms. When he looked at her now, Michal could see the scared little girl he had left behind at that orphanage in Chicago. "Please don't." She said in almost a whisper. The way that Marceline was looking at him, calmed Michal down enough to regain his sanity for a moment and let go of Finn. The boy winced in pain as he hit the floor. As Michal turned back to face him with a scowl, he began to speak in the most solemn voice anyone had ever heard. "Finn, I'm going to make a promise. If my baby girl doesn't see tomorrow, neither will you." Michal walked off to the other side of the room to the exact opposite corner from Finn, mumbling to himself. "Bastard's just lucky I left my gun at home."

For over an hour everyone sat in the waiting room remained a deafening silence. Wondering whether the energetic little blonde girl that they all knew and held dear, would live or die tonight was too much to make any of them speak. Jake and Eli had recovered from the attacks Michal had given them and continued to sit patiently for any kind of news. Marceline was back next to Eli, all curled up and still worried. Princess Bubblegum was forced to leave her friends and attend her duties as princess. Finn was still sitting in the corner opposite of Michal. He had stopped staring at his hands only because he now had them clamped to the sides of his head, trying to rid himself of the terrible thoughts that had crept into his mind. Mostly the thought of the last words Anna said to him might as well be her last words, period. It also didn't help that those words were 'I know, but then you'd be dead.' Finn had tried to place the thoughts inside his vault, where he locked away all of his bad memories so that he would never have to deal with them ever again. But for some reason, they wouldn't go away. Finn kept his hands where they were until the Dr. Ice-cream finally came out of the emergency room to address the family and friends.

Michal wasted no time getting up close and personal with the doctor. "Well, how is she?" The Doctor found it hard to speak with all of the anxious eyes that were staring at him. "Uh, we were able to save her." A look of relief fell on everyone's faces, however the anxiousness returned when the Doctor said. "But. Because she lost a great deal of blood, she'll be out of it for awhile." "How long is awhile?" Eli asked. "Forty-Eight hours, at the least." While Dr. Ice-cream was explaining Anna's condition, Finn had gotten up from his corner, walked over to his pack and put it on one of his shoulders, holding on to the Doctor's every word. "If you want to see her, she's down the hall to the left, in room 203." Finn waited for the Doctor to finish his sentence before he bolted for the door. He had to be sure where Anna was. The boy had followed the doctor's directions and just before he slowed to reach room 203, a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him back. It came as no surprise to Finn that it was Michal's hand who was holding him back. The Captain tightened his grip as he asked. "What do you think you're doing?" "I'm going to check on Anna." "Like hell you are, you put her in there!" Finn gazed at the angry father with his pleading eyes. "Please, I have to." He said in a feeble voice. Michal sighed as he realized that this was the only way to get rid of him at this point. "Thirty seconds, no more no less." He said flatly, releasing Finn's arm. Finn quickly walked to the door and hesitated at the door handle. He recognized that he was hesitating when he heard Michal counting, and he was already up to six when Finn opened the door.

Once Finn was inside the room, he saw Anna lying in the hospital bed. She was hooked up to several machines that might help in the healing process. Her skin was still the unhealthy pale. The slow rising and falling of her chest under the blanket was the only proof that Anna was still alive. Finn walked over to a chair that was next to the bed and sat in it, grief and sorrow were easy to see on his face. He could hardly believe Anna was still alive, yet there she was looking as if she's having a peaceful little nap. As Finn continued to look at her, he felt something hot and wet travel down the right side of his face. He raised his hand to meet it and realized that it was a tear, one of many soon to be shed. After that he completely cracked, all of the emotions he had holding back came out all at once. Finn hunched his head as he placed his hands over his face and wept. "I'm sorry Anna." The fact was that Finn truly loved Anna, so much that it pained Finn far worse than the pain that emanated from his back. It had only taken this entire experience for him to realize it. "I'm so sorry." Finn continued bawling until he heard the sound of Michal's voice. "Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two…" Finn remembered the pack on his shoulder and removed it. He flipped open the pack and pulled out a bronze music box with intricate carvings on the sides. Sticking out of the top of the box were two dogs who had their thin metal arms pressing up against a revolving column that was riddled with small bumps that made different chimes as they passed under the metal arms. It also had a crank at the top to turn the column and the gears inside of the box. Finn turned the crank and the second he stopped, peaceful music filled the air. Finn then placed the music box on the small table beside her hospital bed. He glanced at Anna as he was about to bid her farewell and saw a stray lock of hair that had fallen out of place. Finn carefully brushed it aside before he just stood there, engrossed in the fact that to him, that all of this was his fault.

Michal standing in the doorway of room 203 and he was actually doing the same thing as Finn, only his eyes were darting back and forth between his daughter and Finn. The countdown to thirty had stopped at twenty-nine when he took in the picture in front of him. He still had a burning passion to make sure Finn suffered for what he had done, but at the moment Michal felt more pity for him than rage. Michal had the feeling that someone was watching him, he turned his head and saw Jake, Eli, and Marceline standing next to him. "How long have you all been standing here?" Michal asked. "Since twenty-four." Eli said with the same expression that was on everyone else's face. "And what's playing that music?" Jake explained that tune was coming from his Mom's music box and that Finn takes it almost everywhere with him, just as the music stopped playing. Everyone turned to see Finn walking out of the room. "I wanna leave now." He said, flashing his eyes at Jake. Jake immediately came to his brother's side and helped him walk down the hall to anywhere but there. "You can stay at Lady's with me and the pups as long as you want, dude. Because I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to go back to the tree fort." Finn nodded as he kept his thoughts to himself, he didn't really want to talk to anyone. Not Eli, not Marceline, not even Jake. Finn only wanted to talk to one person.

It was about ten minutes later when Finn and Jake had arrived at Lady's cottage and any clock in the area would read 9:47. When they entered the darkened house, Lady and the pups had already fallen asleep. The pups were sleeping the same way Finn, Jake, and their siblings had slept when they were infants, in a pile in a corner. Lady was asleep at the kitchen table, rather than her loft upstairs. She was waiting for Jake to return with news of what had happened to Finn and Anna. Jake had left Finn by the couch as he went to lift Lady up to her loft, and just as Jake was about to lay next to Lady he twisted his head back to Finn. "Night, bro." Finn was already lying face down on the couch when Jake had said that. He had realized that Jake had deliberately left out the 'Good' out of that sentence and appreciated it. "Night, Jake." Finn watched Jake lie down before he went to sleep himself. Only he wasn't just going to sleep, he was returning to the astral plain.

Finn stood in the middle of an open field, and waited for Soturi. He knew that the King of Mars would be eager to know how his pupil's date went and sure enough, less than two minutes after Finn had arrived in the astral plain Soturi had appeared in front of him. "So, how did it…" Soturi's voice trailed off when he saw the look of misery on Finn's face. "Finn, what happened?" Finn replied almost immediately. "He's back Soturi, he's finally back." The King instantly knew what the boy was taking about, when waves of an all too familiar energy passed over him. If Soturi's helmet weren't hiding his facial features, Finn would have seen the horrified expression on his face. He turned his head slightly to the left and saw a figure developing out of a black cloud. "No Finn, he's right here." Finn turned his own head to see the black cloud had diminished to reveal a man who looked like a human that stood well over seven feet tall. He looked to be in his late thirties or early forties with his short chestnut colored hair, broad shoulders, and clothes that looked fit for royalty. He stared at Soturi with cold and resentful eyes as he spoke. "Hello brother, it's nice to finally see you again." The Lich's voice was different than when Finn had last heard it, now his voice sounded much softer and calming. "Oh cut the crap, Veli." "As you wish." Soturi brought his hands up to face when he started to lose the feeling in them. He then saw that his hands was turning to stone, crumpling away, and continuing down the rest of his arm and body. Veli was forcing him out of the astral plain. Soturi knew the stone conversion would quickly overwhelm him, so he lowered his now stone arms, stared back at his brother as he talked to Finn. "Finn, no matter what he does. I want you to stay…" Soturi was cut short as the stone conversation came quicker than he expected and coated his entire body in seconds. Veli walked over to his petrified brother, placed a finger on his chest and pushed as he said, "And that's enough of that." Finn watched as Soturi fell to the ground and crumbled into hundreds of pieces.

"Now that we've gotten rid of him, you and I can now talk in peace, Finn." The Lich King said, turning to face the teen. To be honest, Finn was scared out of his mind, regardless of the fact that he'd been training for this confrontation for almost a year. He had to try and say something to make it look as if he knew what he was going to do. "So, is that your new body?" Veli gestured to his entire body before he said. "What, this? No, no you see Finn this is what I looked like before I was betrayed. By my people, my brother, even my own father. But of course you know all of this, only because Soturi has told you everything." Veli looked down on Finn and let out a small laugh. "Well, almost everything." "What is that supposed to mean?" Finn asked, not daring to make eye contact with The Lich. "At the moment, it means nothing. But you will eventually learn who you really are. Oh, I'm getting off topic, aren't I? I must ask, did you enjoy playing with my little pet? I was hoping for it to just cause physical damage to you and I did get it, but the mental damage from my pawn nearly killing that the little blonde girl was nothing more than a, happy accident." Finn tried his best not to show any kind of emotion in front of The Lich, but after he referred to what happen to Anna as a happy accident, he completely lost it. The boy lunged forward, trying to place his fist right in the crook of The Lich King's neck. But before Finn came even close, Veli grabbed Finn by his wrist and armpit and hurled him as far as he could, which was well over fifty feet. Finn kicked up some of the dirt as he skidded along the field. He had gotten used to being thrown around by Soturi, so it didn't faze Finn much. As Finn stood up, he jumped as The Lich suddenly appeared behind him. Before he could react, The Lich had delivered a powerful kick to the base of Finn's spine. The kick was strong enough to make Finn's body that rested in the physical plain, shudder and cry out as if someone had taken a switch to the big bloody scratches on his back. Several of the puppies had awakened from Finn's shout, but quickly went back to sleep.

However back in the astral plain, Finn was struggling to escape from the large hand that was holding the top of his skull, and squeezing it hard. The Lich lifted Finn up to eye level so that he could talk to him more openly. "Finn, stop struggling. It will only bring you more pain." It took Finn a few seconds to follow what he was saying, but when he did calm down he left his fingernails pushing against the top of his hand. "You must learn to control you emotions, boy. I wasn't even trying and in less than thirty seconds, I literally hold your head in my palm." "So, what of it?" "A wise man once told me that certain emotions can turn a person into something that they are not, whether they are the meekest of the meek or top of the totem pole. Before that man perished by my side, he had taught me an old game that you and I have already begun to play."

"This is just a game to you!?" Finn yelled. "Not just any game," the Lich replied. "It is a game that tests a person's wisdom, patience, cunning, and the choices that they make. A game that has been enjoyed for hundreds of years by the humans that created it. A game of kings, queens, bishops, rooks, knights, and pawns. Tonight you have met my pawn. Later, you will know of my knight, my bishop, my rook, and my queen." The Lich's body began to dissolve into black smoke as he neared the end of his speech. "But because I am a man of fair sport, I will give you time to set your end of the board, one year to be exact. Use that time wisely, boy. Because it will be your last year, and with nothing else to say, I shall leave you today with only one word." Most of his body was already up in smoke, the only thing that wasn't turned to smoke was the arm that was holding on to Finn's skull. But after The Lich's disembodied voice said the one word, the rest of his arm vanished along with the rest of him. "Check."

Finn was on his hands and knees when Soturi returned to the astral plain. Finn informed the King of what his brother had told him, and he took it hard. Soturi set himself down next to Finn in astonishment. "I thought we'd have more time." Finn had positioned himself upright and took a seat next to Soturi when he had remembered a promise he had made to Anna. He thought how exactly he would play this out, and after he had made his plan he turned to face to Soturi who had placed a hand on his faceplate. "Soturi, if you had a second chance to save Charlotte's life, would you take it." This was the first time in a long time that Finn had brought up Soturi's long dead wife into conversation, and it caught him off guard. "Of course I would, I will always love her. Why do you ask?" "Because tonight I made a promise that I can't keep anymore. And I need you to do it for me." Soturi had caught something of a slide show of Finn's memories of the past few hours, of the pawn's attack, the blood on Finn's hands, and the marine who was ready and willing for vengeance. The King had no idea what compelled him to say his next six words. "And why should I do that." Finn's answer was as quick as it was simple. "Because I love her, and because she deserves the right to know why she almost died."

Anna walked through an extravagant garden that was filled with exotic and beautiful vegetation, the garden lay just outside the walls of a palace that was just as lavish as the garden. Everything even had a reddish hue to it. It was absolutely confusing to her and if she had to make any reasonable explanation for her situation, it would be that this was a strange dream. Anna bent down to inspect an unusual flower with multicolored petals as Soturi appeared behind her and said. "Do you prefer to be called Anna, or would you like to be called something else." Anna turned her head at the sound of an unfamiliar voice and saw the King of this palace in his dented, golden armor. "Who, who are you?" she asked. "My name is Soturi, and I must ask you. Do you recall anything from the past few hours?" Anna looked away from the King. "Uh, well I remember I was watching my favorite movie with Finn, and after he tried to kiss me I can't really remember anything. Most of the night was just a big blur." "So you don't remember saving Finn's life, almost at the cost of your own." "I do now!" Anna said, after her eyebrows rose. "Do you also remember the promise that had Finn made to you." Almost instantly the girl nodded. "Yes, about him telling me the secret he's been keeping for a while." "Yes, well I am Finn's secret." Anna tilted her head and raised one of her eyebrows. "Come again?" Soturi began to walk past her as he let out small laugh; he found her confusion to some extent, humorous. And if Soturi found this enjoyable, then the next few periods of time would be very entertaining. "Come with me, I shall explain everything."

The girl followed Soturi only out of curiosity's sake. Though as he started his tale, Anna became more and more interested in who this strange man was. "What you see around you Anna is nothing more than projections of the memories of where I was born and raised. The people who founded this city billions of years ago, entitled it Rumah. There was a time when this utopia was on Earth, however the council that governed us at that time were forced to do an impossible task. The process ended up killing all but one. That one surviving councilman with the name of Varoitus, a very distant relative of mine, then became the first king of Rumah. And as he neared the end of his life, he started to have visions. These visions were so startling that Varoitus had the scholars forge a prophecy from them. That prophecy says that a single motion of the hand from a dark prince that will set into motion, the war of suns. The prince who set that motion will be punished not once, but three times in death. Brought to him twice by a hero, one of the four sole survivors. This hero shall have met and been raised by a gold dog. Who will lead the Hero, the King, and the Solider to a flying mountain, where they will help decide the fate of two worlds." Anna was completely at a loss for words, she could easily place The Mushroom War, Finn, Jake, and her father in the prophecy. But the dark prince, was the only part that she didn't get. "Dark prince?" She asked. "Because the prophecy said that, each king after Varoitus bared two children at the minimum; so that if that one prince became corrupt, then the other could take his place on the throne. In fact, the prophecy was only told to the kings and royal officials. I had learned of it only after I had become king, after my father's murder." A lot of questions bounced around in Anna's brain, yet only one left her lips. "Would you mind if I ask what that impossible task was?" "Why of course, each of the councilmen were issued one of these." Soturi raised his valta to present it to Anna. "This object is called…" "A valta, they use life energy to make lasers, force fields, teleport, create the armor that you're wearing now, and allows you to communicate with people using your mind. That's pretty much all I know about it." The King stared in amazement at the youth. The last thing the Soturi had expected was that this girl from the twenty first century, would know anything about his culture. Anna knew that the face hidden under his helmet bared an expression of full wonder. "Finn told me." Anna said as she continued to walk as Soturi had stopped to recover his thoughts. "Um, yes. Well, when all fifteen members of the council were faced with the threat of war, they used their valtas to teleport the entire city to the next planet over and escape the threat of those giant lizards." Anna always knew that she was never the smartest person ever, but she always tried her best to piece together what she didn't understand, even if the answer didn't quite make sense. "Wait, you mean that your people almost had a war, with dinosaurs!" "To put it lightly, yes. But we only retreated because we were a peaceful civilization and had had no real weapons before you say anything else, just let me explain. Despite their small brains, these 'dinosaurs' were relatively smart. This was only because of one of the many genetic experiments that our scientists had taken part in. The lizards had developed their own society, with our help of course. However as the years went by, they became more and more dependent on us. And when we cut them off, they revolted." "But what about that theory of the asteroid that wiped the dinosaurs?" Soturi decided that he had had enough walking and took a seat at the edge of a fountain. The King motioned for Anna to sit next to him as he continued to talk. "Well part of that is true. Just before the council transported Rumah to Mars, they forced Earth's second moon out of orbit and onto the face of the planet." It took Anna several seconds for the words 'second moon' to run through her memory and five minutes of a National Geographic documentary reared its head. That documentary had said that billions of years ago, the two moons had collided into one another at high speeds, sending the smaller moon off into the infinite blackness of space, while the other still orbits the planet to this day.

"Wow." It was a lot of information to take in, in a short amount of time. Though as long as Anna has lived in Ooo, she had learned by now to just roll with the strange stuff. "Is there anything else that you want to tell me that might blow my mind?" "I might have a few more things, but I am nowhere near done telling you everything." "And what exactly does everything cover." Soturi brought his valta up to hold his chin as he thought of a way to summarize his life up until this point. "Well, it's a long and painful story…" Soturi positioned his hand to cover some of his helmet when his valta began to glow like a rising sun as it absorbed his helmet back into the magic gauntlet. And as the valta's glow faded, Soturi lowered his arm and turned his head to gaze at the girl sitting next to him with a wide face that looked like it had gone through as much hell as his armor. With a jagged scar that went from the center of his forehead, to the right of his nose. Atop his head was the same color of brunette that his brother had, only it was much longer and unruly from his confinement in the astral plain. "…but it's my story."

**(First off, I'd like to apologize for all the ranting I did about the reviews. I guess I was just a little jealous of other stories that are a lot more popular than this one. So from now on, I will no longer do that. I'm just thankful to have readers period. Second off, the next couple of chapters are going to be all about Soturi's backstory, which will more than likely be more than a couple chapters. And most will cover questions from both the show's and human's history. Case and point, Earth did have a second moon, don't believe me? You've finished reading, so Google it.)**


	15. Curiosity

**To those who are reading this right now, you must realize that Rigentum is officially one year old. I finished this about a month ago but I waited until today to upload it. Think what you may, but I am proud of this achievement. This chapter is really where the real science fiction of this story comes out. I have waited so long to start it! And with nothing else to say, I happily present to you…**

**Chapter 15 Curiosity**

A young man walked through a lavish hallway with a humble yet cheerful smile. He wore a black shirt with long sleeves and a silver pattern that covered most of the chest and matching pants. To the oblivious, he looked to be no older than sixteen years of age. But thanks to one of the successful genetic experiments done millions of years ago, every single person in the city where this young man lived was granted the gift of a very prolonged life. If a person was lucky, they would live to see well over five thousand years. Yet this young man was just a few decades over one thousand. The young man's father had called on one of his servants to complete a task, but decided that he would take the burden on himself when he had thought of a way that he could make it entertaining, or at least to him.

As the young man walked past a window, he caught a glimpse of the buzzing metropolis outside. Its oddly shaped buildings were in clear view under the thick dome that completely covered every inch of the city, almost five hundred square miles. The name of this city still held the morality when the young man's ancestors christened it eons ago. Only, none of its citizens had felt that this place should be called by that name for quite some time. Ever since fourteen members of the fifteen-member council had given the ultimate sacrifice so that whoever called the city of Rumah home could not only live peaceful lives, but live period. The red sand that Rumah now rests on was cold, desolate, and unforgiving; not the original foundation on which the city was founded on. Ergo, this was not their home. The young man turned a corner as he neared his destination, two large doors that when opened revealed an even larger bedroom. He easily pushed open the doors and stepped inside the unlit bedroom. He turned his head to a large bed that held the sleeping body of an eight year old boy who was in fact just seventy-six years shy of five hundred. The young man walked over to a window that had its curtains drawn shut and ripped them open to stream light into the room and to make the boy squirm under his blankets. "Come on, it's time to get out of bed." The young man said, making his way to the side of the comforter. He smiled as the boy began to rise, but that quickly changed when the boy grabbed one of the pillows near his head and hurled it at the young man. He easily dodged the pillow as he watched it fall to the floor. He turned back to the boy who had already covered his face with the sheets, with an irritated look on his face. "Alright, but just remember that you made me do this Soturi." The young man walked into the adjoining bathroom and made sure that Soturi didn't hear what he was doing. He came back out five minutes later holding a handle in one hand and the bottom of the bucket filled almost to the brink with water in the other. Once he returned to the side of the bed, the young man wasted no time emptying the bucket onto Soturi. He immediately shot up and glared evilly at the person responsible. "Veli, why did you do that?" "Apparently brother, you didn't hear me say, you made me do this." Veli said, the humble yet cheerful smile returning to his face. "Come, our father wishes to see us.

Veli hadn't given his brother a chance to dry off, or even to change out of his soaked sleeping clothes. And now the siblings walked side by side up the hallway Veli had just walked down, only this time they were en route to the throne room. "You know you didn't have to do that." Soturi said, not taking his eyes away from the straight line in front of him. "I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to." Veli smiled again as he looked at his brother expecting a smile, but received the exact opposite. Soturi had always looked up to Veli, like most little brothers do. So he should have known that Veli was just joking. Veli realized that Soturi was upset with him, and decided what he needed to do to bring a warm smile to that wet face. "Hey Soturi, wanna have race?" If the two of them had ever had any kind of dispute, they would always settle it with some kind of competition. It worked so well to patch things up between them, mainly because they were so competitive. Soturi looked up at Veli with eyes that said, 'On what terms?' "First one to reach the throne room wins, agreed?" "Agreed."

The two brothers backed up enough to where their race would lead them down the hallway in front of them, which was about seventy-five feet. Then they would turn a corner and proceed down the remaining twenty-five feet to the throne room. Soturi and Veli crouched down in their running positions and spoke in unison "Ready… Set… GO!" Soturi took off, while Veli was still crouched in his ready position. He was giving his little brother a fifteen second head start, and after Veli had counted to fifteen in his head, he took off. By the time Soturi had reached the corner, Veli had already passed him. As the large doors of the throne room came into view, Veli had slowed his pace from a run to a fast walk. When he came to the doors, he stopped just inches from them. Veli positioned his hands to where they were almost through the entryway, as he turned his head to watch Soturi run closer to him. However, Soturi was closer than Veli had thought. Soturi was close enough that he had jumped off of the ground and hurled himself onto his brother's back. The sudden action caused Veli to fall with Soturi, both of them rolling onto the throne room's shiny floor. When they stopped rolling, Veli was lying on his stomach, slightly confused, while Soturi was sitting on his back. A smug expression held up above the boy's crossed arms as he said "I win." It took a few second for Veli to understand what had just happened, and when he did, he started to laugh. "Okay Soturi, you win."

"Are you two quite done?" The two brothers turned their heads up and around to the familiar voice behind them and saw their father Jalo, the King of Rumah. He was a well built man, despite the grey that had crept onto the dirty-blonde hairs of his head and beard. The golden crown atop his head was a beautiful display of detail and vision. The garments he wore were fit for well, royalty. The valta on his left hand that bared a sapphire gem was concealed by a long sleeve. It was the same valta that Jalo's father had worn while he was king, and his father as well; the list goes all the way back to King Varoitus. The same gauntlet was passed down to the next generation, because the only way that a new king could get a new valta was to some how find the King's Labyrinth on the next planet over. Something that is impossible. The two brothers piled off of each other to stand and face their father. Soturi was the first to stand up, and he came up from the ground by about four and a half feet, yet he only came up just above his father's waist. Then it was Veli's turn to stand, he still had some more growing to do but he came up to Jalo's chin, a little over six feet tall. The average fully grown Ruman, would stand at around six to seven and a half feet tall. Jalo fit that description well at seven feet and five inches. "Yes, we're done." Veli said. "Good, because I have something very important to tell the both of you, as well to the entire city." "Like what?" Soturi said, wiping off some of the water that was rolling down his forehead. "It's a surprise that will wait until…" Jalo's voice had trailed off when he had noticed Soturi's soaked clothes and hair. He turned to his first born son for an answer. "Why is your brother wet?" "You told me to wake him up, and I did." Jalo smiled and shook his head at his sons' mischievousness. "Well, after today's tournament, everyone will know of your surprise." With that said, Soturi started to walk off. He would have continued on if his father hadn't asked him where he was going. "I'm going to go dry off." "Okay then, you do remember the way to the royal box." "Yes." Soturi said, lying through his teeth.

Almost thirty minutes later, Soturi had dried off and changed into some dry clothes; a light blue jacket with green cuffs and reddish brown pants and now he was walking at a brisk pace through one of the maze-like hallways of Ramah's coliseum. This coliseum was large enough to hold almost the entire population of the city and in an extremely rare circumstances, the coliseum was used as a courtroom. He had tried to find his way to the royal box on his own but had easily gotten lost. Soturi's pace gained speed when he head the muffled voice of the tournament's announcer start the opening ceremony. "Welcome one and all to Otella tournament." Soturi had witnessed every opening ceremony, as well as every tournament, ever since he could remember and he didn't want today to be the first time missing out. So the prince knew that he had at least five minutes until the actual tournament started. The problem was, Soturi still had no idea where he was. And as Soturi rushed through the halls, the announcer's voice was drowned by a much closer and louder voice, screaming at another person. "You are officially out of second chances, Trenac!" Soturi had slowed as he heard the one sided argument down a hall he had not yet passed. He was curious as to why one person was so angry at the other. Soturi turned the corner and walked cautiously against the wall that led to an open door as he continued to listen to the argument. "We're probably going to be forced to forfeit, all because of your idiot friend!" "Come on guy, he could just be running late." A second voice said sheepishly. "Late! That jerk hasn't shown for a single practice. Yet for some strange reason, you keep putting him up on a pedestal." "But…" "No more buts, no more excuses! After today, the entire team wants yours and you friend's locker cleaned out!" Soturi was now pressed up against wall, just an inch from the open door. Hanging on to every word. "They might let us compete with just seven people but I doubt it." The first voice said, sounding a little calmer. That same voice let out a sigh before saying. "Just suit up Trenac, so we can get this over with."

Soturi waited until the sounds of footsteps had faded until he had entered the room. What he saw next was nothing like he'd expected. The room held eight large orbs. The orbs were twelve and a half feet in diameter and would have been almost completely intangible if not for the blue vapor that transformed every person inside of the orbs into a hazy silhouette. Soturi walked past every orb, trying to make out the faces inside. But when he came to the eighth orb, he saw that there was nothing inside of it, no person or fog. Just an opening where the person could enter. Soturi held the option to enter the orb strongly in one hand, while the other hand barely held onto anything. He eagerly stepped inside the orb, the opening closing behind him. Soturi's curiosity had almost always gotten him into trouble. Like when he had climbed to the highest point of the palace roof, just because he could, and then it had taken him over three hours to climb back down. But what Soturi had just done was completely different. This was literally hijacking an Otella player's spot in the tournament.

The same blue vapor that filled the other orbs filled Soturi's within a matter of seconds. Some of the vapor crept into his lungs and eyes and gave him a slight burning sensation. Soturi rubbed his eyes as he began to cough. As the burning sensation disappeared, he lowered his hands from his eyes and saw that he was standing in octagonal room that had no ceiling with seven ten-foot androids that were painted a dark blue and that were staring at him, if red visors counted as eyes. Soturi looked down at his own hands and saw that they were exactly the same as the other seven androids. These machines were the equipment the players use in the Otella tournament and a technological masterpiece by modern human standards, but for the people of Rumah it is nothing more than a fancy toy. The blue fog that filled all of the orbs back in the staging area was, to put it lightly, the combination of a M.R.I. scanner and a video game controller. It monitored the electricity that coerced through the brain and nervous system, and whatever action the person in the orb did such as run, jump, hit, or even talk, so did the machine. The androids themselves are held together by magnetic polarities, almost every single joint was separated to make movement that much easier. The only joints that were connected were on the thick three fingered hands and wrists that were on gliding joints, just like the real thing. The large forearms that the hands were attached to were as heavy as the barrel of an eighteenth century cannon. Carved into the two pointed shoulder pads that hung over a solid chest plate, were several of the chicken scratches that are part of the Ruman alphabet that spelled out each player's name. The head of the machine looked as if someone had fused together three arrowheads and curved them backwards. What would look like ribs, were nothing but hovering disks that had been folded to make an upside down 'V'. The shins and feet were thicker and heavier than the forearms, mainly so the android could stay balanced. The feet gave more on the balance factor because of the fact that they resembled those of an elephant, flat, circular and stable; it also had barbs along the edge of each foot to help with traction. Soturi looked back up at the other machines and saw one of them quickly embrace him. The prince saw the name Trenac etched into one of the shoulder pads of the machine who embraced him.

"I told you he was running a little late!" Trenac said, almost laughing. He then pulled back and placed both of his hands on Soturi's shoulders that had the name 'Orion' carved onto them. "I am personally hoping that I get to meet you in the arena, only so I can beat the living…" "I'm not who you think I am." Soturi blurted out. Trenac immediately stepped back in surprise, as did everyone else. They really weren't expecting to hear a high pitched voice like Soturi's. And after an exchange of looks, one question hung in the air. "Than who are you?" It was a good thing that these machines didn't show the facial expression, because if it did everyone would have seen the big smile on Soturi's face. "A kid who was lucky enough to get lost." Soturi's comment made some of the Otella players let out a small laugh, probably because they would have done the exact same thing as Soturi did if they weren't already competing. However one person didn't find it funny at all, that person was the team captain, otherwise known as the guy who was screaming at Trenac earlier. He pulled Trenac back behind him and interrogated Soturi. "Who do you think you are? You can't just waltz into something like this. It takes years to master the control of one of these suits." Soturi continued to listen to the man's ranting, even as the floor began to rise. The prince could tell that who ever was controlling that machine took this tournament far too seriously. "I'd like to know what your name is, kid." He said, crossing his metallic arms. Soturi gave the man his name with a hint of pride in his voice and again, it was a good thing that these machines didn't show the emotions of the person piloting them. Because if it did, then Soturi would have seen the astonished look on the player's face. "Forgive me, Prince Soturi. I did not know it was you. Just, please tell me you know how to play the game." "I remember every single Otella tournament ever since I could remember. So yes, I know how to play." As the floor continued to rise, an opening above the eight machines became visible. All of them gazed up toward the opening as the floor gained speed and passed straight through the opening. Soturi smiled when he saw the coliseum that was filled from the front row to the top ring of seats with chanting patrons. Truth was that he'd always dreamt of this moment and now that it was actually happening, he could hardly believe it. Out of the corner of his eye Soturi saw his original destination, the royal box. Inside the box sat King Jalo and Prince Veli. One question ran through the king's mind as he asked his only present son. "Where in the world is your brother?" "I don't know, but he's gonna miss all the action."

Out from the hovering platform where the players were standing came a mercury like metal that condensed into eight silver platforms which were ten feet wide, one for each player. As Soturi stepped onto his own platform, he looked across the arena to see eight more machines that were identical to his stepping onto their own silver platforms; the opposing team. The only real difference between the machines was that the other team's machines were painted red. When every machine stood on a platform, all of them began to drift to one another. The Otella tournament consisted of one event, a gladiatorial challenge. The event had only one rule, don't die. Eight pairs of the silver platforms combined to set the stage for the first gladiatorial round. Soturi stared at the red armored machine he would be fighting in a moment, even as a holographic ring surrounded the each of them. The ring displayed a wide array of weapons that the player could choose from. You would use your hand to move the ring and see what you'd have in your arsenal. Soturi's opponent took his time to choose the right weapon, a four bladed battle-axe with a spike at the top of it and plasma layering the edges. Yet Soturi did the exact thing that the champion from the previous tournament had done, he forced the ring to spin like a roulette wheel, and when it slowed Soturi saw a long and slender blade with a barb at the bottom of it. To be honest, the thing looked more like an elongated spear head than a sword. Soturi placed his hand in the holographic image of the sword and his hand retreated to the inside of his forearm after the ring had disappeared. A second hologram of the sword appeared where Soturi's hand was and it hardened to form his weapon, an ionized gas surrounding the edge of the blade. Soturi and his opponent exchanged looks before the platform they were standing on began to descend to the red dirt below. Soturi saw the engraving on his shoulders that read 'Cren'; he also saw that their platform was the only one that was moving down. When the platform touched the ground a countdown appeared on both of their visors, and when it reached zero, the two both charged at each other. Well to be exact, Cren charged while Soturi just jerked forward. Soturi panicked when the four bladed axe came to close to him and he leaned left, into the path of the weapon. The axe missed his head by an inch and scrapped his shoulder pad. Soturi had to think, that was mainly how you controlled these machines, and problem was that thinking is harder than it looks. The prince's mind wasn't fully synchronized with the machine, it mimicked playing an online game with a crappy internet connection; there was a lot of lag. Soturi raised his sword to swing at Cren, but this endeavor failed as he actually grabbed Soturi's sword and flung him on his back. He looked up and saw Cren's axe coming back for another swing, Soturi's primal instincts kicked in as he quickly dodged the attack by rolling to the left. Soturi stood up and realized that the axe that had just tried to be planted in his helmet was now wedged tightly in the metal of the platform. The prince took this opportunity to take another swing at him, even though his actions were still slowed. The sword was blocked by a thick forearm, Cren had easily seen his attack coming. But with one arm wedged into the platform and the other was preventing a blade to take him out of the game, Soturi was given a golden opportunity to strike with his free hand. He brought his left hand backwards as he balled it up into a big metal fist, and when it had gone back as far as it would go, Soturi's arm acted like a piston. Repeating blows that were strong enough that if just one of those blows hit a regular person, that person would not only suffer from a collapsed rib cage, but also have several of their internal organs implode. But that's what these machines were for, take and do more damage, without touching a single hair on a living thing. One of Soturi's blows had actually knocked one of the bent metal disks' under Cren's chest plate out from the magnetic polarity and made it skip along the red dirt. Cren's entire upper body then fell backwards, as if someone had removed several spinal disks from his back. The prince listened to the roar of the crowd as he raised his sword for a second time, Cren turned his head just in time to witness the blade come down and sliced his head in two, making it fall to the ground. As Soturi's body slumped, the platform began to rise again; holes appeared in the platform under Cren's stationary metal body to leave him on the ground below. Another platform dropped when Soturi's was aligned with the others. He took this opportunity to make his machine fully synchronized with his mind, by punching, slicing, and kicking the air. By the time this task was completed, five other platforms had already come and gone, and the sixth one was nearing the end of its stage. Soturi glanced down at the arena and saw what he thought to be one player in a head lock, a second look proved otherwise. A machine from the red team who's armor was trimmed with gold paint. Norric, the previous Otella tournament champion, had taken hold of one of Soturi's teammate's head and was attempting to rip it out of its magnetic grip. And once that was accomplished, he held the head like Hamlet would hold a skull. Soturi stared in awe at the sight. He restrained himself from cheering and that took some serious willpower. For a moment the prince thought that he had some kind of physic connection with the player, because the champion quickly turned his head toward Soturi, proudly holding up the head.

The next forty minutes went as all of these tournaments go, the sound of metal beating on metal. After two more platforms had gone, Soturi was then faced against his own teammate. It was something that happened very often, the fact that Soturi was victorious was completely irrelevant. The next round he took part in consisted with a red player and a plasma whip. Soturi taken hold of the whip with his left hand, wrapped it around his forearm and pulled the player attached to the whip into his sword; that had gained Soturi a victory and a partially melted arm. Once the round after that had stated, Norric had quickly and easily defeated the second to last member of the blue team and now had his sights set on the last. All of the sixteen silver platforms had now merged into one giant, one hundred and sixty foot wide stage that hovered forty feet in in the air. Soturi stared across the platform at the champion, who had already begun to assess his current opponent, and he acknowledged the fact that Soturi would be the only player that he would have to use his weapons on, and as the countdown on both of their visors, Norric forced both of his hands into his forearms and activated his weapons. Two hooked blades that discharged the same ionized gas of every weapon in the Otella arsenal. Once the countdown ended, Soturi charged while Norric just stood at the opposite end of the platform and waited. Norric waited for the perfect opening to take down the prince, and once Soturi was close enough, he took it. The champion swiftly reached inside the upper part of Soturi's rib cage with one of his swords, hooked the bottom of his chest plate, and flung Soturi near the edge of the platform. Soturi slid all the way to the edge and practically fell off of it, and if a player falls off of the platform in this round, then it counts as a disqualification. Luckily Soturi was able to grab the edge of the platform and hold on tightly.

Back in the royal box, the king and his son sat on the edges of their seats. From the wide door behind the two emerged a member of the royal guard, it was basically the same structure as the Otella machines, and was only one out of the forty in existence. It had more appeal to its armor; all of its metal was tinted just as red as the sand outside the city, it carried a spear that hummed and glowed with plasma, and a black robe covered most of its upper body. It had no pilot, the guard was basically a computer designed to protect and serve the king and his family. Its helmet was rounded like an actual head yet more angular. The guard leaned down to tell Jalo what news it had. "Your Majesty, I have found Soturi." "Good, now bring him here if you'd please." Jalo said, not facing away from the action. "That will be quite a challenge my king, but you can consider it done." Before the royal guard left to retrieve the prince, Jalo stopped it out of curiosity' sake. "Wait, why would you think of it as a challenge? Where is he?" The royal guard said nothing; it simply turned and pointed to the player who had struggled to get back on to the platform.

Norric had assumed that his opponent had fallen to the ground below, so he believed himself to be the reigning champion once again as he raised both his swords with pride and listened to the audience's chants. But when Norric realized that they weren't chanting his name, he figured it out and turned just in time to dodge Soturi's blade. Norric was caught off guard, and that hadn't happened to him in a very long time. The champion lifted his blade to attempt to lock his and Soturi's swords together, but this ended with a parry, Norric taking most of the weight from the blow. Before the champion could recover, Soturi brought his flat foot up and kicked Norric in the center of his chest. He went back several feet, with the prince not far behind. When Soturi reached his opponent, he wasted no time attempting to plunge the plasma covered blade right through Norric's chest plate. The only thing that stopped him was Norric's hooked blades that had come together and caught Soturi's weapon near the middle. For the short time that the three blades were connected, the temperature reached dangerous levels. Basically hot enough to melt the metal that held the plasma. Soturi pulled his sword back before it became too melted to use, however he was a few seconds too late. Half of his sword had liquefied and dropped on the platform, hissing as it melted through the platform. Now Soturi was defenseless against the champion, whose swords were still useable. As Norric slowly stood up, Soturi stepped back. The truth was that Soturi didn't know what to do. A warrior without a sword is nothing more than a moving target. Norric walked forward and watched the prince stumble back. He came up to Soturi when he had tripped on himself. He witnessed Norric pull his left arm back, ready to strike, before Soturi closed his eyes to avoid the sight of it all. He heard the sword cut through something, and when Soturi realized that it wasn't his mechanical body that was struck, he opened his eyes. The sword that would have been inside of his head was inches beside it. Norric released the blade from its magnetic hold and stepped back. Soturi looked at the sword and then back at Norric, hoping for an explanation. "This is the best fight I've had in years, and I want it to last as long as possible." Soturi smiled as he stood up and tossed his melted sword aside. Before his hand could emerge from his forearm, the Prince reached for Norric's offering. Seconds later, the two resumed their epic battle. Every slash and hit was matched blow for blow, until Norric delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of Soturi's head. He then took the opportunity to use his sword to slice through Soturi's arm that held his sword, all that was left was a floating nub. Soturi, in a quick panic, reached to grab his disembodied arm to still use as a weapon. However this failed as Norric sliced off the other arm. The prince stepped back to stare at both of his floating nubs. He looked back up at Norric with one simple sentence. "Okay, that was just mean." Norric was surprised at sound of Soturi's voice, expecting a much deeper voice from his supposed opponent Trenac. The champion had thought of two possible conclusions of why his voice was like that, but quickly eliminated one choice when helium hasn't been used in its gas form in about seven hundred years. "I've been fighting a kid. Never thought one would be this good." Norric said, holding his blade up to Soturi's chest. "Well I'm no ordinary kid, just ask my father." "Who is your father by the way, I'd actually like his permission to have you as a sparring partner." "Don't worry, my father will congratulate you once you've won." Soturi turned his head to face the royal box as he spoke, and when Norric turned his head as well, he knew who he had to show gratitude toward. Norric then pulled back his arm and plunged into Soturi's chest as he said in almost a whisper. "It has been an honor, Prince Soturi." Blue fog filled the prince's eyes as Norric pulled his arm out and watched the now inert android collapse to the metal platform, and as tradition goes, the champion of the tournament must toss their defeated opponent off the platform. So he did before the pieces would lose their magnetic link, with one hand he dragged the android to the edge and dangled it for a few seconds until the entire thing, save the head that Norric was holding, fell to the red ground below.

The blue fog had begun to filter out of Soturi's orb, and once it was completely gone the orb opened. Soturi faced the rest of the blue team who looked at him with admiration and an expressionless royal guard. The royal guard stepped forward and said. "Prince Soturi, your father wishes to see you, right now." Soturi gave a solemn farewell to the blue team before quickly following the royal guard down the hallway, and when they were nearing an exit, a man rushed past the two. Soturi turned to see the man screech to a halt and ask him a simple question. "How late am I?" The man wore a bright yellow shirt and a pointed hat with the same color and wrapped in a blue ribbon. Below his dirt covered pants were two different shoes, one a brown boot that came up to his knee and the other an old purple boot. The prince had never met this man but he had taken a very good guess of who he was, Orion. "Again, how late am I?!" "Late enough that I took your place in the tournament." A dumbfounded expression fell onto Orion's face, his head lowered and turned his entire body to walk right were Soturi was just a minute ago. "I wouldn't go that way if I were you." The prince said, forcing Orion in slow his pace. He responded without turning his head. "Why not?" "Because the way that one guy was yelling, makes me believe that they might want to kill you." Now Orion turned to face the prince with a thoughtful look. "Hmm, makes sense. I've been getting that feeling for a while now. Would you mind if I come with you, so they don't do away with me." "Why not? Orion, wasn't it?" "Oh please…" Orion said, walking towards the prince. "…everyone calls me Magic Man."

It had bee five hours since the end of the Otella tournament, five hours since Jalo had awarded Norric his fifth championship trophy. A diamond shaped obelisk that was divided into four pieces and hovered close together. Norric had decided not to take the trophy, but had given it to Soturi as a gift. After that, the king had announced that both Veli and Soturi would begin their Rite of Passage. A series of tests and challenges that would determine which one of the brothers would become the next King of Rumah when Jalo became too old to function aptly as a leader. The first of these challenges –one of the hardest, was to reach the summit of the fourteen mile high dormant volcano that the people have named 'Iso Kivi'. So now the two princes were only a few minutes away from walking through the eastern gate of the city toward Iso Kivi, where Soturi has happily telling his brother all about his happy accident. "So, you just walked right in and no one stopped you." Veli said, readjusting the pack that rested on his shoulders. "Yep." Soturi said arrogantly, his chin pointed up toward the sky. "You know what Soturi. One of these days your curiosity is going to get the better of you." Veli said as he turned around and walked backwards to wave at a small group of girls that had passed them and caught his eye, but mostly one girl in particular. She was a beautiful and mature young woman with the name of Rinnat, about the same age of Veli. She had light brown hair that reached just above her waist, and she had stunning green eyes that were hypnotic to most men. Veli may have been over a thousand years old, but hormones are still hormones. Soturi noticed that his brother's focus was centered on Rinnat and took this opportunity to place his foot in front of his path. By the time Veli was on the ground, all of the girls had erupted in laughter. Veli turned to face his brother with a resentful scowl. "I could say the same thing to you, Veli." Veli's scowl slowly turned from that, to a forgiving smile. "Alright Soturi, I suppose I deserved that from what I did this morning." The prince stood up and placed a hand on Soturi's shoulder. "Come on brother, let's start this thing.

Thirty minutes later, the two brothers were at opposite ends of Iso Kivi, staring at the peak of the volcano, waiting for their signal to start. When the Rumans first arrived on the red planet, its atmosphere was ninety-five percent carbon dioxide; in other words, inhospitable to the people whose lungs breathed oxygen. It had only taken a few short years for the scientists of Rumah to convert the air to a mostly oxygen filled atmosphere. They decided to keep the dome over Rumah because the people had all agreed that 'it looked cool'. A bright yellow light appeared at the summit of Iso Kivi, shining through the clouds and signaling the princes to begin their trek. Veli, being older, had the clear advantage. It had only taken him about twelve hours to travel half way up the volcano, by then the sun had set and two blurry moons had risen. Veli stopped to take quick rest when he sat down and removed his pack. As he chomped down on some food, the ground below the prince collapsed into an explosion of red dust and rock. The sound of Veli's coughs could be heard after all of the rocks had settled. Veli waved his arms around frantically to try and get the dust away from his face as he stood up. He gazed back up at the hole from where he had fallen from and guessed it was about five feet out of jumping distance.

The prince began searching for his pack when he remembered that he had packed some rope in it. He bent down when he saw it under a rock and something rather big caught his eye. Veli looked across the small cave and saw an object that looked like it was an eighteen sided die that had been cut in half with two long handles that reached up to the waist. Veli retrieved his pack and walked cautiously over to the oddity. He placed his palm on one of the handles and stroked it. Whatever it was it was made out of metal and was making the prince curious. He grabbed onto the handle and pulled himself onto the die, and as he took hold of the second handle, he thought. _'I wonder what Soturi would make of this.'_ Veli had flinched when the entire metal object was surrounded in a halo of blue light the second he finished his thought. The die rose from the ground revealing that this object had an elongated body. The light shifted from blue to a shade of purple. Veli tried to remove his hands from the handles, but by then the strange object fazed the prince through the ceiling of the cave and out of the planet's atmosphere faster than he could blink. The purple halo that surrounded Veli protected him from the harsh conditions of space as it carried him through the infinite blackness. Seconds passed and a blue dot appeared out of the black. Several seconds later Veli realized that the blue dot was a big blue planet that held a number of green and brown land masses hidden under puffy clouds. Before Veli could take in the sight, he was quickly plunging toward a strip of land in between two wedge-shaped regions. To be more precise, a wide peninsula on that strip of land that stuck out like a sore thumb. Veli closed his eyes, hoping that he would somehow survive hitting the surface of the planet. But when he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in a large grotto.

Veli looked down and saw the same strange object that was inside of Iso Kivi and then it hit him. What the prince was standing on was a transporter, he thought that all of them had been destroyed long ago when they were outdated by a simple machine called legs. Veli released his grip from the handles and went to step off the transporter, but he was thrown down to the ground and felt his own weight almost crush him. The gravity on this planet was three times the gravity of his home, where he weighed ninety three pounds. But right now, the prince was almost two hundred and eighty pounds. Veli tried to pick himself up but failed miserably. So he tried his hand at dragging his body along the ground. The prince brought himself to a wall and slowly stood up with the wall's help. He used his hands to guide himself along the wall. After a minute Veli took a rest by leaning against the wall that he thought was solid rock. What it really was, was an opening that had been covered by vines. With Veli's luck, the opening was just big enough for him to fall through and tumble down a steep hill. As Veli came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, he saw the lush green jungle that surrounded him. It was certainly a sight to behold, since he had never seen this much vegetation in his life, not even in the palace gardens. So the prince savored all of it. Veli was startled by a rustling and a deep purring from the brush behind him and out emerged a large golden cat, peppered with black rings. When he was rolling down the hill, he had caught the predator's attention. This cat was roughly the same size as Veli. The prince watched in an uneasy state as the large cat stalked forward with hunger in its eyes. The cat bared its yellow fangs with a roar and lunged forward; Veli tried to stand up and run away, but failed again with only a flailing of his arms and legs to show for it. Aside from the sound of the jungle cat charging, a second sound filled the air. Something had cut through the air with a whistle and made the cat fall to the ground almost instantly. Veli looked back and saw a dead cat and a thin wooden stick with feathers at the end protruding out of the cat's head. The prince clutched his chest as his heart started to slow down its pace, when three men jumped down from tree limbs and made his heart start again. One of the men rushed over to the cat and retrieved the wooden stick from the cat's skull. The man was six feet tall, he was well tanned under his body paintings and wore nothing but leather shoes and loin cloth. A bow that was almost as tall as the man was wrapped around his chest. Another one of the men came up to Veli with a long spear in hand. "I don't know who you are but I want to thank…" Veli was cut short and sent backwards when the man's spear head came very close to the prince's throat. The man said words that only he and his companions could understand. But by the way he said it and the look on his face, Veli could guesstimate that he had said, _"Don't move."_


End file.
